LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf ..S1_P.4 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




FEEDING THE SUSQUEHANNA. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA 



A Series of Summer Letters from the Ches- 
apeake Bay to Otsego Lake and the Alle- 

GHANIES, embracing HISTORICAL INCIDENTS, LEG- 
ENDS, Etchings of Indian Life, Geological 
Facts, Pen Pictures of Eminent Men, Descrip- 
tion OF THE Country, etc. 



By Hiles C. Pardoe 

AUTHOR OF " BYRNE RANSOM'S BUILDING," " HEYOND THE RUTS, 
"GOSPEL AMONGST THE BOYS AND GIRLS," ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 




MOV 16 1894 



/-ff 



New York: Hunt & Eaton 

Cincinnati: Cranston & Curts 

1895 



Copyright by 

HUNT & EATON. 

1894. 



Composition, electrotyping;, 

]irinting, and binding Ijj' 

Hunt & Eaton, 

i^o Fifth Ave, New York. 






/- lOS^. 



To My Wife, Mrs. Annih Stonhr Pardoe. 



PREFACE. 



IT is hardly fair that vacation days should 
be like spent balls. The love of inquiry is 
innate. It is in the blood and bones, the brain 
and heart. The mind seeks for truth with the 
same dexterity evinced by the magnetic needle 
in hunting for the polestar. We were made 
for truth. The search for it and the joy at 
findincr it are akin. 

We may be able to simply play along the 
coast line of the supernatural because tied 
down to an insignificant moiety of days ; but 
germs of truth, if cared for, will most assuredly 
grow. All students of truth find one day or 
another that Nature will reveal her charms ; 
history will bind them to the men who were 
upon this planet ; and the present will secure 
them a patient hearing if they are willing to 
persevere. 

God's great rivers are always associated 
with peoples. Flowing on forever to the sea, 



vni PREFACE. 

they are regardless of the changes among 
men, but men will not let them flow on forever 
alone. The Susquehanna is a great river, and 
men and women in all parts of the world turn 
with wnstful hearts toward its historic banks 
and remember the days of auld lang syne. 

The merit of these simple letters hes in 
their connection with this river, and should 
the pleasure of reading them be equal to the 
pleasure of the writing the end will be gained. 
I am especially indebted to the following 
gentlemen for suggestive data: Hon. John 
B. Linn, A. Boyd Hamilton, H. C. P., in 
Golden Days: W. H. Shaw, Dr. W. H. Egle, 
J. F. McGinness, B. H. Warren, and others. 

The Author. 

Bedford, Pa. 



CONTENTS. 



THE CHESAPEAKE BAY REGION. 

The song of the Susquehanna — The Chesapeake Bay — An 
Algonquin tradition — Explorations by Captain John Smith 
— The original Susquehannocks — William Penn and the 
Indian treaties — An instinct of immortality — Peculiar geo- 
logical formations — Marks of a glacier 7 

FROM HAVRE DE GRACE TO COLUMBIA. 

Robert Fulton's home — Boyhood^A great genius — Later 
brilliant career — First steamboat — The microscope as a 
teacher — The Germans — The Pennsylvania German So- 
ciety — Ponderous bowlders — Geological wonders at Chiques 
— Navigation — Studying tendencies in a country inn — Social 
discontent and its cure 9 

FROM WRIGHTSVILLE TO THE SLATE QUARRIES. 

The extravagance of Nature — A midsummer drive — Welsh 
colonists — The slate belt — Professor Dana and the Boice 
Farm — Indian curios— The Bald Friar — The chrome, 
nickel, and Epsom Salts mines — The shad fisheries — Birds 
of prey — Lord Baltimore's charter — The fight over Mason 
and Dixon's line — Some dregs of slavery 17 

THE BLUE JUNIATA AND THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

The confluence of the Juniata and the Susquehanna — The 
Cayugas and Delawares — Duncan's Island — The Indian 
deer sacrifice — The ante-revolutionary forts — The unfold- 
ings of Nature amid the Kitiatinny Mountains — One of Na- 
ture's voices— The wild flowers of the gorges 27 



CONTENTS. 



DUNCAN S ISLAND TO STEELTON. 

Canoeing on the Susquehanna — June glories^The Bessemer 
steel plant at Steelton — The public school system of Penn- 
sylvania — The model farms of the Susquehanna valley — ■ 
Bayard Taylor — Beautiful Indian names — The Conestoga 
Indians — The Susquehanna lands and the Five Nations — 
How the Five Nations became Six Nations 35 

HARRISBURG. 

The State capital — The era of the trader — The Indian villages 
— The attempted burning of John Harris — John Harris, Jr. 
— Discussion of the Federal Congress about Harrisburg 
being the capital of the nation — The State House — Capitol 
Park — The battle flags of the rebellion 44 

THE STATE CAPITAL (CONTINUED). 

A session of the Legislature — Prohibition — Eminent guests — 
George Whitefield — Charles Dickens — Prince de Joinville 
— The executive chamber — Pennsylvania's gov^ernors— An 
object lesson in Capitol Park — Harrisburg an American 
city 53 

SUNBURY NORTHUMBERLAND CHILLISQUAQUE. 

Shikellimy Ridge at Northumberland — Packer's Island— The 
Philadelphia hermit— Joseph Priestley at Northumberland 
— Bicycle ride to the Vincent mansion— A grave with 
memories— Conrad Weiser— Shikellimy as a mediator— 
Chillisquaque Creek 60 

ETCHINGS OF INDIAN LIFE. 

The skiff ride — A group of questioners— The story of the orig- 
inal people— The Long House— The Iroquois— Origin 
of the Onondagas— Of the Mohawks— Of the Oneidas— 
Of the Senecas— Of the Cayugas— A unanimous ver- 
dict 67 



CONTENTS. XI 



ETCHINGS OF INDIAN LIFE (CONTINUED). 

The Iroquois Club— The boyhood of Shikellimy — The Jesuit 
Fathers — Shikelhmy elected to the headship of his tribe — 
Shohomokin a strategic point— Traits of character of 
Shikellimy — At Shohomokin — Death and burial... . 'J'] 



ETCHINGS OF INDIAN LIFE (CONTINUED). 

The spiritual condition of the Susquehanna Indians — The 
British Parliament and the colonists — The Moravian mis- 
sionaries—Count Zinzendorf — Martin Mack and wife — 
David Brainerd and wife — A pleasant surprise— A forward 
movement under Bishop Camerhoff — Bishop Von Watte- 
ville — iV convcrsasione — A confirmation class of Indian 
boys and girls 88 

BIOGRAPHY OF A CELEBRATED WARRIOR. 

The career of Logan — Superstition — The great council house 
and council tire— In his teens — Interested in the heavenly 
bodies — His stay at Chillisquaque — On the Juniata — Battle 
in the West— A violent death no 

FROM JOHN PENN's CREEK TO LOCK HAVEN. 

The white captives— Their escape — The academy as a drill 
—The wealthy men of the Susquehanna valley — A dream 
of childhood — A country boy's ideal of birds — The 
night heron — Lewisburg — Milton — Williamsport — Lock 
Haven 123 

THE CLEARFIELD REGION. 

Peneus, the river god— The freshet— The storm— Trout fishing 
as a science — Scenes in a lumbeniien's camp — Admiration 
for the external world— Mr. Audubon and the " Pigeon 
Roost " — Captain Moran — How the people live in the Alle- 
ghany Mountains — The itinerant preachers — The head- 
waters of the West Branch 1 34 



Xll CONTENTS. 



THE NORTH BRANCH OF THE SUSQUEHANNA, 

Mountain building — Tiie Danville ore hills — The blunder of 
Charles II — The flight of the backwoodsmen — The tragedy 
at Wyoming — The monument to the heroes — Surveying 
the Susquehanna — Its course through the State.... 146 

WYOMING VALLEY. 

The beautiful vale of Wyoming — Down an anthracite coal 
mine — World building — Peculiar fossils — The Devonian 
measures — The first discovery of coal — The yearly output 
— The sentimental lovers 1 59 

HEADWATERS AT OTSEGO LAKE, N. Y. 

The fresh water lakes of New York — The Chenango River — 
Binghamton — Along the upper Suscjuehanna — Nineveh — 
Oneonta — The hop-growing industry — Cooperstown — 
James Fenimore Cooper — Otsego Lake the headwaters of 
the North Branch — The tallyho ride — The daybreak — The 
true daybreak — The high noon of experience 170 



ILLUSTRATIONS, 



PAGE 

Feeding the Susquehanna Fyontispiece. 

Th'u: Susquehanna at Chesapeake Bay i 

William Penn 5 

The Susquehanna at Columbia, Pa , 20 

I. Packer's Island at Sunbury, Pa. 2. The Wil- 
li amsport Log- BOOM. 3. Junction of the 
Juniata and Susquehanna at Duncannon... 28 

Two Old Men of the Mountains 35 

In the Capitol Grounds ai' Harrisburg. Pa 45 

North and West Branches of the Susquehanna 

at Northumberland, Pa 60 

Profile Rock, Shikellimy Ridge 97 

Outline Map of the Susquehanna River 125 

In the Heart of the Alleghanies 135 

A Lumbermen's Camp in the Alleghanies 139 

The Susquehanna at Danville, Pa 147 

Otsego Lake, New York 155 

I. In an Anthracite Coal Mine. 2. A Coal- 
Breaker 161 

Lake Otsego — Headwaters of the North 

Branch of the Susquehanna 168 

The North Branch of the Susquehanna at 

Binghamton, N. Y 171 

The Susquehanna leaving Otsego Lake 176 

Leather-Stocking Falls, Otsego Lake, N. Y 179 




imrntti ^ ^ 

THE SUSQUEHANNA AT CHESAPEAKE BAY. 



June. 



Camp James IVorton, / 

Chesapeake Bay, Md., S 

THERE Is a twinge of jealousy in the heart 
when one remembers that the artists have 
passed by the Susquehanna to dip their 
brushes into bright colors for the purpose of 
setting forth the picturesqueness of the Hud- 
son, the Avon, and the Rhine. This is the 
more justly true if you were to the manor 
born and watched from childhood the sweep 
of these waters from the northland to the sea. 
The song of the Susquehanna is yet un- 
sung ! The data are fragmentary, and many 

of its secrets are in the graves with the men 

I 



2 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

and women who lived on its banks, plied 
the oar, and fished its branches. No one 
can say at what time in the evolution of 
things this great channel was scooped out by 
mysterious fingers or when the historic cur- 
rents were started. We know the red sons of 
the woods cried " Siskee-Hannee " — muddy 
waters ; and later " Saos-que-haanunk " — long, 
crooked river ; but what its original name 
was is locked up in the silence of the ages. 

It is seldom that "birds of passage" get 
bewildered in their spring and autumn flights, 
for the reason that they elect a keen-eyed 
leader who by a happy instinct marshals his 
forces in a proper angle in the sky, and so 
they drive homeward with remarkable pre- 
cision. So it is when men migrate to unknown 
parts. They demand a sturdy and competent 
leader. Taking his cue from nature's faithful 
water courses, courage and determination soon 
bring victory out of the wilderness. If the 
\y Dutch of the Manhattan colony struck the 
Susquehanna about the lakes in New York, 
at its source, the Swedes of Delaware, and 
later the English, marched northward from 
beyond the Chesapeake Bay. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 3 

When the purse is hght, or the duties press 
too keenly for trips beyond the sea, one may 
pitch his tent here at the outlet of this crreat 
river and with camera, canoe, field glass, and 
fishing rod find an outing quite adapted to 
his tastes and exhilarating to his spirits. 

The morning is now cleverly advanced. 
The sunlight floods the scene. Every sail 
in the open bay is taut, and nameless craft 
go sweeping by. The immense freight trains 
are creeping over the high bridges that span 
the river. The quaint old towns of Havre de 
Grace, Port Deposit, and Perryville are astir 
for the day. Each of the first two of these 
towns has a history dating far back into the 
last, century. Neither of them has put on 
the higher forms of industrial enterprise, but 
both remind you somewhat of the river towns 
on the Mississippi. 

The traditions of the lower Susquehanna 
are few. The unwritten legends have almost 
faded out of existence with the old settlers as 
they have disappeared. 

Three hundred )'ears ago some Spanish 
adventurers captured an Algonquin Indian 



4 UP THE SUSQUEITANXA. 

and carried him into Central Mexico. The 
fellow showed oeniiis in some lines and was 
educated for a priest in the Roman Catholic 
Church. The intention was to oive him the 
right of way among- the tribes of the upper and 
lower Susquehanna as a missionary teacher. 
Coming North with one of the Jesuit fathers 
to be installed in his office, he killed his 
traveling companion and fled the section. 

Captain John vSmith, who explored the Ches- 
apeake Bay region in the sixteenth century, 
says that Powhatan, the celebrated warrior, 
was intimidated in pushing his canoes up the 
Susquehanna,except for a few miles, on account 
of the murderous character of the Susquehan- 
nocks who dwelt there. His scouts reported 
the river full of " great and mighty rocks 
and many gyants with hellish voyces, sound- 
V ing out their words as if speaking out of great 
caverns." Tradition does not get behind these 
Susquehannocks. They are supposed to have 
been relatives of the Mohawks on the Hudson. 
During the years A. D. 1666 and 1675 the Five 
Nations (Iroquois) from the North waged a 
war against them and finalh^ concpiered them. 
Many were captured as prisoners and taken to 



UP THE SUSQUEIIAXX.V. 5 

New York, and a remnant who tied South were 
afterward permitted to return as tributar)', and 
were the Conestoq;as, of Lancaster County. 




WILLIAM PENN. 



Our royal old friend William Penn came 
with his patent to " Penn's Woods" in A. I). 
1682. The [people of this vState are proud of 
th(i man wlio soundc^d the depths of the red 



6 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

man's purposes and made that celebrated 
treaty with him on the banks of the Dela- 
ware. Later, under the elms at Shakamaxon, 
he met certain chiefs of the four contlictino- 
powers, and by consent fixed certain lines 
toward the setting- sun. Connodagh-Toy 
represented the remnant of the Susquehan- 
nocks ; Oppeessah was King of the Delawares ; 
Wee-When-(iough, King of the Potomacs ; 
and Ahoak- Assouoh, he of the Onondaoas. 
It was difficult for Mr. Penn to tell who were 
the rio-htful owners of the lands alonor the 
Susquehanna. The governor of New York 
claimed them as far as the Conestoo^a Falls, 
and deeded them to Penn at a nominal figure. 
\^arious deeds and transfers are upon record 
in the archives of the State A. D. 1699-1701- 
1736, the latter indicating the head springs 
of the river and the P)lue Mountains as the 
outer boundaries. In the peaceable confer- 
ences of Penn with the tribes they said they 
had conquered the country by their own 
courage and could sell it to whom they 
pleased; only the Juniata country and the 
Alleghanies, which were abundant in elk, 
beaver, and deer, must be excepted. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. / 

If it seems a melancholy rule that retires 
one set of men from a given region to be fol- 
lowed by another, the only answer that can be 
eiven to the statement is that a distinct evo- 

o 

kition toward a hicrher and better civilization 
demands such changes. 

It is interestine to note how the instinct 
of immortality asserted itself In these early 
people. Lying here in the bed of the river 
are immense rocks, upon which they carved 
some of their peculiar notions, with the evi- 
dent intention of writing up the history of 
their times. They have erected no great 
monuments, built no great pyramids, sunk no 
great shafts, but they have curiously chiseled 
upon these rocks some rude hieroglyphics tell- 
ing the story of some wild adventure, some 
desperate battle, some tale of the weather or 
of the floods in the river. Here Is the image 
of a fish and here a serpent's head. If some 
Champollion were near these lines which the 
storms of the ages have not blotted out might 
be read with satisfaction. 

The geological formation of this region is 
peculiar. In what is perhaps tlie highest 



8 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

point of land In the vicinity — three hundred 
feet above h^w water mark — Is an Immense 
deposit of conglomerate pebbles, sand, and 
great beds of white and pink quartz. An 
eminent geological authorit)' has proven that 
no agency In existence at present could have 
put this deposit where It Is, and that It Is dis- 
tinct from every other formation In Penns)l- 
vanla. Is It, then, the product of some great 
drive of a glacier .^ Mr. Aoasslz claimed that 
the northern part of the United States was 
covered at one time with an Ice sheet ; 
that many of the rocks are polished and 
grooved In distinct lines In the river valleys ; 
and that the southern end of this Ice sheet 
extended as far south as New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania. This glacier was a thousand 
feet thick In New England, and had an Ice 
front three hundred feet high In Pennsylvania. 
The same authority says that the line Is indi- 
cated by a series of singular hills, gravelly 
ridges, and deep holes called " kettles," sup- 
posed to be the end of a great terminal 
around moraine. Whatever mav be the exact 
facts, it Is certain that many of these conditions 
are fully met in the structure of this section. 



The Mouth of the CoiiestojLia, I t.,„^ 
Lancaster County, Pa., ) 

IT Is perfectly clear to thoughtful people 
that " the power that makes for righteous- 
ness " and superintends our affairs is pleased 
to bring into the world betimes special men 
— men with a providential history. A genius 
is said to be a man whose brain acts auto- 
matically. Robert Fulton, who was born a 
short distance from the Susquehanna, in Lan- 
caster County, was a genius. The bread- 
winners will never let his name die, for along 
w^th his lofty purposes in other directions he 
had a talent for serving them. His hobby, as 
is known, was steam as applied to the running 
of boats. If the man is a philanthropist who 
makes two blades of grass grow instead of 
one, what shall be said of the inventor who 
lifts from the shoulders of multitudes the bur- 
dens of life ? Precocious and talkative from 
early childhood, he was always bent upon 
doine evervthine as nobody else would do it, 
and later, of intermeddling with all wisdom. 
One of his teachers would facetiously say 

9 



lO UP JIIE SUSQUEHANNA. 

that " his head was so full of original notions 
that there was no vacant chamber to store 
away things out of the books." To him the 
foundries and machine shops of Lancaster 
had greater attractions than the schoolhouse. 
Whizzing wheels, piston rods, and other para- 
phernalia of the mechanics set his brain on 
fire. He is credited with thirty-five inven- 
tions, among which were submarine guns, 
torpedoes, cast-iron bridges, etc. His great 
motto was, " The liberty of the seas will be 
the happiness of the earth." Others little 
dreamed of the possibilities bound up in the 
life of the young man, but he was conscious 
of having been born for a great purpose. 

And who shall say that these throb-beats of 
genius were not inspired ? That first attempt 
to run a boat by steam up the Hudson — the 
Susquehanna being too shallow — brought the 
laugh of derision from the gaping crowds upon 
the banks. But the curious craft got the vic- 
tory, and was at once the forerunner and 
prophet of numberless vessels that should ply 
all waters, and bear the commerce of all 
nations. Was the life of Fulton thouoht out. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. II 

nicipped out, and shaped by an Almighty de- 
sicrner, that he mio^ht be the servant of many 
peoples ? 

It is impossible to spend many days in this 
singularly constructed geological region with- 
out calling to mind that great challenge to 
man in the Book of Job, to give an account 
of the o-enesis of thino-s about him. In that 
old, weather-beaten schoolhouse on the hill, 
where wehave spent the afternoon,we found the 
teacher wholly absorbed in discussing theories 
out of the text-books. How greatly would 
he add to his power as a teacher if he would 
bring out into the external world occasionally 
those inquisitive chaps! Let him put the 
microscope upon this piece of gneiss, or this 
spar, or this chlorite, or the new red sandstone 
which is so prominent for miles along this side 
of the river. Let him study with them the 
plant life of this region, study these bold cliffs, 
and unfold as best he might the splendid 
notions of the Creator when he formed the 
Susquehanna. Most of us have a hard time 
to forgive our old-time schoolmasters for this 
kind of neglect. We are strangers in the 



12 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

mines, strangers in the quarries, strangers in 
the woods. All around us Nature is constantly 
unfolding her unique processes of world build- 
ing ; but how slow we are to catch her ideas ! 
We know she is somewhat shy, but to the dili- 
gent student she will reveal her secrets yet 
more and more. 

The people of these lower counties border- 
ing on the Susquehanna- — York, Lancaster, 
Lebanon, and Berks — will never forgive the 
author of that interesting little volume called 
The Pennsylvania Dutch, for characterizing 
them in that way in print. The younger 
generation is sensitive upon the point ; and 
yet of late there is a strong disposition 
to pride itself upon German ancestry. 
The Pennsylvania Society is becoming quite 
a stalwart organization, and is composed of 
many of the highest scholars in the State. 
The study of German classical literature, the 
recovery and preservation of old German 
documents, and the diligent tracing of ances- 
tral lines have made this movement quite 
popular. These sturdy sons of the original 
settlers are not only industrious and econom- 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. I 3 

ical, but are substantial citizens and loyal to 
American institutions. They are honest, 
hospitable, and kind, and although they move 
slowly in most lines, and perhaps are easily 
imposed upon by sharpers, there are great 
overlapping seams of moral worth in their 
characters which bind them to the common- 
wealth, to goodness, and to truth. 

The whole lower region of the Susque- 
hanna, from Port Deposit to Columbia, upon 
either side of the river, and, indeed, in the 
bed of the river, makes one think that nature 
must have been either angry or else in a play- 
ful mood the day in which it was created. 
See these bold, jagged precipices, jutting 
clear out into the waters, those ponderous 
bowlders in the very bed of the channels 
weighing thousands of tons. What are they 
doing here? How did they get here? Was 
it by some mighty convulsion of nature, such 
as is unknown at the present day ? Why 
these unique, unnatural, and grotesque 
shapes? It is as if Jove had been hurling 
his thunderbolts at his enemies and to their 
absolute discomfiture. 



14 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Professor Rogers says that these rocks 
constitute what is called the base of the 
primal system. They are so altered, however, 
as to have been mistaken b)- some scholars 
for true hypozoic, metamorphic rocks of the 
gneissic group ; being, as I take it, the rocks 
w4iich contain organic remains. Whatever 
the formation may be, the hammer makes 
but little impression upon them. Especially 
is this true in the neighborhood of Chiques. 
Along by Shank's Ferry the fine-grained 
gneiss rocks, elaborately wrought up into 
great bowlders, almost shut up the bed of 
the river, and which have been a barrier 
from time immemorial to the West Branch 
lumbermen in piloting their rafts to the open 
bay. They are compelled to land at Marietta 
and Columbia and find a market by some 
other means. Why has the State of Penn- 
sylvania been so slow to open up a channel in 
the river sufficient to make it navigable as far 
at least as the State capital ? The tides reach 
Port Deposit, and vessels of light draught are 
here ; but these immense bowlders are insur- 
mountable barriers for vessels to go beyond 
this point. It would seem that in this engi- 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. I 5 

neering age the money and brains should be 
yet forthcoming in order to accomplish this 
result. As it is the Susquehanna, with its 
historic associations, is but a public drain for 
the mountain and hill country of the north. 
From such an improvement the towns and 
villages w^ould gain additional power and feel 
the touch of a new commercial life. 

* 
Have you ever indulged in that playful di- 
version of concealing your name, your resi- 
dence, your whereabouts, and in a business 
^^ay joining a company of village loafers, to 
find out what they are thinking and talking 
about ? It is a sharp hour for studying tend- 
encies. To-day we stopped at an old country 
tavern to wait for a train. The barroom was 
full of the lower orrade of workmen. We soon 
discovered that social discontent was the trend 
of the conversation. It was a rouo^h-lookinor 
crowd, and although they kept a rather sus- 
picious eye upon the stranger our dress did 
not betray us. The most hilarious fellow of 
the crowd was a little low-browed, glib- 
tongued Irishman, fresh from the sod. He 

was evidently the philosopher of the party. 
3 



l6 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

After a violent tirade upon things in general 
in his own land he struck the subject with 
which all seemed familiar — the evils of pov- 
erty. As the train swept along the tumble- 
down porch where they had gathered, and as on 
that particular day there were several elegant 
parlor coaches attached to it, the fellow's lan- 
guage became starred with epithets and 
adjectives. " Aha ! " he said, " the lucky rich ! 
the lucky rich! see how the)' live! see how 
they travel ! see how they lord it over the 
poor!" His comrades were not long in 
taking up the threads of the arguments, and 
in a coarse, vulgar way abused society for its 
distinctions until we wondered whether we 
were safe in such a crowd. To discuss the 
subject would only have been casting pearls 
before swine. We did not fail to get the key 
of the situation, however, as the gay bartender 
dealt out the drinks every twenty minutes, and 
all with one exception gathered about a table 
and began to shuffle some queer colored cards, 
whilst near at hand were a number of o-reen- 
backs, all of which we interpreted as being 
the main cause of their poverty and social 
discontent 



Peach Bottom, } j 

York County, Pa., ^^^i"*^- 

IT seems almost necessary at times to apolo- 
gize for Nature, she seems so extravagant. 
Her specimens of beauty, wisdom, and fra- 
grance lie about in such out-of-the-way places 
and in such nameless profusion that you get 
bewildered. The old Greeks settled this 
matter by saying that the external world was 
made not only by the gods but for the gods. 
If you can get a permit to drive your team 
upon the towpath of the Pennsylvania Canal 
which runs from the villaee of Wrio-litsville 
on to the Maryland line, you will have a mid- 
summer pleasure that will linger with you 
during a lifetime. Leaving the rich headland 
farms of York County behind you soon press 
into a scene of exquisite beauty and pictur- 
esqueness. An artist could wish for no greater 
chances for the display of his genius than upon 
this ride. The bold palisades to the right 
running for miles, with their slanting shadows 
in the stream ; the great islands in mid-river 
covered with all kinds of foliaire tineed with 



1 8 UP THE SUS()UEIIANNA. 

amber and gold by the western sun ; the wild 
growths up the mountain side with the ever- 
green bluffs hugging the canal-way : the wild 
tiowers ; the cultivated hillsides ; the snug 
homes of the people in sequestered places ; 
the deep ravines fringed with water lilies and 
the prickly pear ; the majestic clouds drifting 
hither and yon, all make up a series of unsur- 
passed loveliness. 

There is a large and prosperous colony of 
Welsh people located in sight of the river 
upon either side of the State line separating 
Maryland and Pennsylvania. They are immi- 
grants from the north part of Wales, and were 
attracted here as early as 1843 by the discovery 
of the splendid slate belt which runs northeast 
and southwest in both Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land, and in which there are perhaps a score of 
immense quarries. The analysis of this Peach 
Bottom slate by the Pennsylvania Geological 
Survey shows it to be practically free from 
sulphur, iron, and lime. It is said that where 
these ingredients are found in slate beds con- 
stant exposure produces decomposition. The 
first work of the quarrymen is the dynamite 



h- 




UF THE SUSQUEHANNA. 2 1 

blast, followed by the lifting of immense blocks 
of slate to the surface, then the process of saw- 
ing and splitting, and the trimming of the 
edges, after which the shingles are ready for 
the market. The workmen soon become ex- 
perts and the trade is one of the great indus- 
tries of" Banoor" and the " Slate Quarries." 

When Professor Dana visited this reoior 
he referred to the " Boice Farm " as having 
furnished him with many fine specimens of 
Indian curios, chisels, arrowheads, cooking 
utensils, and other relics of the race which 
once had headquarters upon these great 
bluffs. The Smithsonian Institution was 
greatly enriched by that visit. A tramp over 
the farm to-day yielded many queer speci- 
mens for the home cabinet, and puts one 
in touch with the men and women of earlier 
times. 

The average tourist does not dream of the 
existence of so many remarkable points of 
interest along the lower Susquehanna until 
he has compassed the region in detail. 
There are the " Bald Friar," an order of rocks 
as distinct among rocks as was the " Black 



22 ,v ur THE SUSQUEIIANXA. 

P>Iar," a distinct order of men in the mediaeval 
times, and which Luther denounced with 
such zeal and determination when once he 
had thrown off the yoke of the Roman 
Church. 

Here are the old chrome mines at Rock 
Spring — now abandoned — but which have 
been visited by many distinguished miner- 
alogists. Large and numerous specimens 
have been found, carnelian, moss agate, chalce- 
dony, green tourmaline, etc. Nature Is for- 
ever casting such treasures Into the laps of 
the men who use their eyes. 

Then again there are located within easy 
distance of the river in Lancaster County 
the great and only nickel mines in the 
United States. As far back as 1718 they 
were worked as copper mines. Some shrewd 
Yankee discovered upon one occasion large 
quantities of nickel in the debris of the 
mines, and, keeping the secret to himself, he 
bought the property at a nominal figure and 
became rich. The process of crushing, 
smelting, and grinding the metal is singularly 
slow and expensive, and the ready coin cur- 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 23 

rent in trade shows but few siens of the tired 
hands and hard toil necessary to bring forth 
such results. 

The Epsom Salts mines which once were 
largely operated and were productive to a 
remarkable degree, have also been abandoned. 
Pennsylvania, rich in mineral, oils, agricul- 
ture, lumber, etc., is also to be honored in 
her medicinal springs, not the least of which 
are the " Black Barren Springs " of this part 
of the State, now becoming a popular resort 
for invalids. 

It is passing strange that the people who 
live along the central and northern parts 
washed by the Susquehanna will submit, 
year after year, to that injustice which gives 
exclusive right of way in the shad-fishing 
industry to the region lying between Colum- 
bia and the Chesapeake Bay. The tempera- 
ture of the river is so agreeable to the young 
shad that they gladly leave the ocean tides 
and wish to penetrate to the very sources of 
the inland stream. The construction of the 
dams in the river interferes with this natural 
order and cuts off a rich supply of palatable 



24 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

food for the tables of thousands. And the 
leadership seems to be lacking that would 
invent a method to stock these waters from 
their sources to the sea. As a matter of 
commercial enterprise one would think that 
different results would be forthcomino-. 

♦ 
Birds of prey In large numbers make their 
haunts in these rugged hills. Here they are 
comparatively free. Here they rear their 
families and lead them out as public scaven- 
gers. The buzzard and the hawk claim all 
seasons as their own. They dwell In these 
caverns. The eaMe takes efeat delieht amid 
the crags. It Is often a dainty dish that the 
hungry brood gets, as the barnyard goose 
and lamb have but little power to resist the 
talons, beak, and wings of the mother bird. 
The eagle may be a historic character, known 
In many lands as an emblem, perching upon 
the flagstaff in the hour of battle, but he has 
very brutal Instincts, as we have proved by 
a day in these Susquehanna fastnesses. 

There was one expression in Lord Balti- 
more's charter of Maryland that gave the 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 25 

early colonists a great deal of trouble, in 
indicating a line it is said. " And behind the 
woods ; " that was too much for the engi- 
neer. Penn's men claimed the Baltimore city 
plot and Lord Baltimore claimed the Phila- 
delphia plot. The dispute became famous ; 
passions ran high, suits were instituted, and 
much bad blood was manifested. The 
quarrel lasted seventy years. A compromise 
was finally effected in 1760, and the " Mason 
and Dixon's Line" of stones was set up. A 
few of them are still standing. Every fifth 
stone had both Penn's coat of arms and the 
escutcheon of Lord Baltimore engraved upon 
it. The stones extended to the extreme 
limits of the State. Those " Dixie " stones 
became well-known division marks between 
free and slave labor. The tumble-down 
cabins of the Negroes have not altogether dis- 
appeared. Thrifty and vigorous a State as 
Maryland is there are yet marks of that an- 
cient and hateful system. The " come-and- 
go-easy" life of these black fellows lolling 
about in the shade ; that old plow with a 
mule and bo)- scratching about upon yon 
hills ; the absence of the homelike cottaoes 



26 Ur THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

that we see In New England, where the 
honeysuckle blooms at the doorway, and the 
shaded lawns and the whitewashed fences 
everywhere abound, all indicate that some- 
thing has come down from bygone days when 
men and women were only chattels and 
Negroes had no rights which a white man was 
bound to respect. It is as natural for a real 
American to look with jealous eyes upon 
every tendency to improve our American 
home life as it is for the stars to come out 
when once the sun is hidden in the west. 



Duncan's Island, I jg^^ 

Perry County, Pa., ) 

THERE are many well-wooded, rocky, and 
thicket-grown islands lying in the bed of 
the river in its majestic stretches from central 
New York to Maryland, but very few that are 
fit for cultivation. Duncan's Island, Dauphin 
County, is an exception. It is snugly en- 
sconced here at the confluence of the Juniata 
and the Susquehanna. The stream is a mile in 
width, and the island twenty miles from the 
capital of the State. The island is possibly 
two miles in length, has somewhat of a popula- 
tion, the soil is alluvial, the drives are excellent, 
and the outlook in every direction charming. 
Both of the rivers are spanned with bridges. 
An aqueduct diverts the canal into the Juni- 
ata valley. The dam in the Susquehanna, 
with a towing bridge for boats, puts the canal, 
henceforth, on the east bank of the river until 
it reaches Wrio^htsville. This island was the 
seat of an Indian village of some importance, 
and the tradition is strongly fortified that the 
Cayugas and Delawares fought a battle here, 

27 



28 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

in which the latter were defeated. There is, 
perhaps, in the annals of this reoion no such 



^ 







^ ^. 




I. packer's ISI,AXD at SUXBURY, pa. 2. THE WII.LIAMSPOR'I' LOG- 
BOOM. 3. JUNCTION OF THE JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA AT 



DUNCANNON. 



photograph of the utter vagrancy, destitution, 
and debauchery of the oriirinal Indian life as 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 29 

that given by a devoted missionary, David 
Brainerd, when he visited Duncan's Island in 
1744. Mr. Brainerd was so completely enam- 
ored of the Gospel as a cure-all for the ills of 
humanity, even in their worst form, that he 
consecrated his whole life to the reconstruc- 
tion of the savage character. A student from 
Yale College, a man of uncommon pluck and 
devotion, he came here afoot on his way to 
the Wyoming Valley. The tribe was celebrat- 
ing some event with a " Deer vSacrifice," which 
was only another name for a drunken revelry. 
The whole encampment was converted into a 
debauch, and scores of male and female der- 
vishes were engaged in the mystic dance. A 
fat deer was laid upon an altar in sacrifice. An 
Indian reformer from afar was present, dressed 
in a bearskin suit and wearing a mask painted 
alternately red and black, and was acting the 
part of a priest. He harangued the crowd for 
a time, then threw the fat into the fire, and, 
while the feasting, dancing, and drinking were 
carried forward, kept beating time upon the 
shell of a tortoise, and chanting to the Great 
Spirit. Mr. Brainerd, who was the only white 
man on the island, did not despair of his own 



30 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

life, although surrounded by this drunken, 
villainous crew, but he despaired of the Gos- 
pel's power to reach and save them. Although 
conversant with their lancruaofe, and remainino- 
a considerable time telline the magnificent 
story of the New Testament, he surrendered 
to the inevitable and quit the place. His 
efforts elsewhere were much more successful. 

Having touched to-day the site of Fort 
Halifax, one in the celebrated chain of ante- 
revolutionary forts of central Pennsylvania, 
stretching from the Delaware Water Gap 
on through the State to Cumberland, Md., 
at the base of the Alleehanies, a series of 
thrilling adventures came to mind in which 
the original white settlers were the chief actors 
as well as the chief sufferers. The chain in- 
cluded Forty Fort at Kingston, Fort Augusta 
at Sunbur)', to the north and east ; and Fort 
Halifax, Fort Lowther at Carlisle, Forts Bing- 
ham, Granville, Mifflin, Littleton, Bedford, and 
Cumberland, to the south and west, which had 
been erected as a protection against the ma- 
rauding bands of red men, instigated by the 
French authorities, who were seeking a foot- 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 3 I 

hold in Pennsylvania. The long and dreadful 
sieges of fear, anxiety, famine, burning, and 
slaughter, taken together, constitute an unwrit- 
ten history whose pages would have been 
stained with violence and blood ; so it is well 
that they are buried beyond the hope of a 
resurrection. 

The Kittatinny Mountains ! An all-day 
ramble over the rugged cliffs, breathing the 
exquisite air and quieting the nerves amid the 
aroma of the flowers, is a tonic of no mean 
order. We are all children of Nature, albeit 
some are not in love with her in her wildest 
moods. The Man of Nazareth is her m-eat 
High Priest — her true interpreter. It follows 
then that we may do more than stand and 
admire. We ma)' reverentially acknowledge 
the authority that wrought out her triumphant 
results. If Nature could not speak; if she did 
not give vent to her pent-up energies ; if a 
hush like the grave were forever upon the hills 
or among the clouds, we should all have a 
touch of melancholy and be altogether dis- 
qualified to meet the stern things of which 
our life is made up. \W:)rdsworth's brightest 



32 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

uenis are those in which Nature is involved. 
He is Nature's truest poet. To him every 
object in the external world was a poem and 
a picture. W^andering along- the Wye, dipping 
into the suggestive pleasures of the Avon, or 
listening to the swish of the sea, the breath 
of a lofty sentiment was forever in his heart. 

There is that old river ! It has been in sight 
the livelong da)-. How the sunbeams shimmer 
and dance upon the surface! Now the waves 
are driven by the wind and tossed. Hark! 
a splash of an oar ; the lowing of the cattle on 
the distant bank ; a thrumming of insects ; 
the crowino- of the cocks ; a rustle amonor the 
trees ; a chatter in the nests. The Connecti- 
cut was in sight when Thoreau fell to philoso- 
phizing in his hermit cabin. He got more out 
of Walden woods than those to the manor 
born ever dreamed of He found out some 
of Nature's deepest secrets — the philosophy 
of her great unfoldings. 

O, yes! Natures has her voice. We were 
scarcely seated at noon under a gnarled and 
twisted elm until we were notified that we were 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 33 

an Intruder. A raspy voice among the leaves 
overhead eave us to understand that the 
place had been preempted. But how did that 
ugly little midget of the tree-frog family know 
that we were there ? And why should he make 
so bold as to break the solitude of the place ? 
He was surely in a bad humor, and he was 
out of order, for was not his hour the one in 
which the shadows turn in with the twilight.^ 
Turning our glass upon him, and seeing he 
was "put up" for the purpose of screeching, 
we freely forgave him. But there was much 
sweeter music over in the orchard in that 
thrush's call for his mate, because that was a 



sono- of love. 



But how helpless is the human understand- 
ing in the presence of the changes, mysteries, 
and destinies of the external world ! We 
cannot rid ourselves of these influences, and 
yet we can scarcely interpret the lessons. 
Were these wild flowers in this out-of-the-way 
place made expressly for men rather than for 
women ? Why are they so sh)^ ? \Miy do they 
bloom clear up in these rugged cliffs where 
no woman would dare climb ? The wild vio- 



34 l^'l' 'llili SUSQUEHANNA. 

let, the modest harebell, the columbine and 
gentian lie about in abundance. The hunters 
we met an hour aeo were on the track of 
some wild game. The fishermen wade the 
streams and push through a wilderness of 
laurel and pines to get a chance to throw a 
ready line for the cautious trout. Who cares 
for this blendino- of tints, this fragrance ex- 
haling from every petal of the flowers of the 
Almighty ? Isn't it strange that no one 
should have a new joy in his heart because 
of this miraculous and almost hidden bloom 
of the mountains ? This is not sentiment. 
The poets can well afford to brook ridicule 
if they, in catching the first stray notes of the 
springtime or those of the deepening summer, 
can interpret God's meaning. They get the 
nectar out of growing petals and from the 
rock of common thinors all unknown to 
passers-by. 




Till': MOUNTAINS. 



The Mouth of the Swatara, { j^^^^ 
Dauphin County, Pa., \ 

CANOEING alone on the Susquehanna 
is not deemed by many a popular pas- 
time. It is an intellectual and physical pleasure 
that few people will allow themsehes to enjoy. 
But the ride from the mouth of the Juniata 
to Steelton is so picturesque and varied that 
in no sense can it be said that one is alone. 
Duncannon, Dauphin, Rockville, Marysville, 
West Fairview, and New Cumberland, with 
their o-rowino- industries ; Harrisbure, with its 
clustered spires and smokestacks, its busy 

35 



36 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Streets and elegant residences ; God's great 
river, his great mountain ranges, his great 
undulating hills, his magnificent sky, all be- 
speak an elevated fellowship and call you to 
reverential feelinors. 

The old chap who wished to die during 
the summer time was not so far wrono- in his 

o 

election, because life is the thine we all wish 
to see and possess, and death is the thing we 
hate. The breath of life still lincrers in the 
orchards and vineyards. Every shrub and 
bush is yet " afire of God." The sweet- 
scented currant, the willows, the evergreens 
all have a late as well as an early mission to 
us. They throb with energy. They deserve 
to be enshrined in the play of our physical 
pleasures. They will be only too glad to re- 
spond to any songs sung in their praise. 

A day is not lost that is devoted to sight- 
seeinor at Steelton. The o-reat Bessemer steel 
plant is located here, employing thousands 
of men and manufacturing hundreds of 
thousands of tons of steel rails for the rail- 
roads of the world. Intelligent action and 
skillful mani|)ulation are recpiired of each man, 



UP ^rilK SUSQUEHANNA. 37 

and the contentment, thrift, and well-balanced 
judgment of these thousands of workmen 
must be attributed to the good sense and 
philanthropy of the corporation. As there 
has never been a " strike " in this great plant, 
in operation since 1865, there must be some 
underlying principle controlling affairs, some 
briorht and grenerous thinkincr croino- on some- 
where by somebody. The corporation seems 
to have a soul. This is manifest in many 
things, and in none less than is seen in the 
construction of a magnificent schoolhouse 
built of brick, in modern Renaissance style, 
one hundred and forty-eight feet long and 
eighty feet wide, which was presented free of 
debt to the town. It is built upon a spacious 
plot of ground. It is thoroughly fireproof, with 
wardrobes, play rooms, and exhibition hall ; 
indeed, complete in all its appointments. 
Ninety-five per cent of the children of school 
age are in attendance. In all of these river 
towns the sentiment prevails that the public 
school system as it now exists must be main- 
tained at all hazards. The memory of Thad- 
deus Stevens's leadership in their organization 
and the results produced through all these 



38 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

years have wrought out a conviction which is 
in the blood and bones of the people, namely, 
that the enemy of the public schools is the 
enemy of the republic. The Stars and 
Stripes floating yonder from the staff at the 
school building on the bluff is the symbol of 
American liberties. The people of America 
sometimes nod and allow cri^antic evils to 
breed discontent ; but when the evil becomes 
too bold the whetted gcIq-q of the sword is not 
too keen a weapon to use in defense of the 
right. Let there be no modification of the 
common school system to suit the whims of 
the people who are not thoroughly American- 
ized ; no State support to parochial schools ; 
no mongrel system to be adopted by the 
State, one half as it now exists, the other half 
parochial, in which religion shall be taught 
before or after the school session ; let the 
Enorlish lanoruao^e alone be the lano-uao^e of 
the public schools, and let the Bible never 
be driven out. These are the things we do 

not request; they are the things we demand, 

if- 

The model farms Ivine alone the river 
between Steelton and Middletown, called the 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 39 

"Young Farms," are fitting types of what is 
seen in these lower counties of Dauphin, 
Lebanon, Lancaster, York, and Berks. There 
is a noticeable absence of the great red barns 
for which Pennsylvania is famous, but the fine 
herds of cattle, magnificent crops, and the gen- 
eral air of thrift and tidiness put them at a great 
premium. One is reminded of the experiment 
of Bayard Taylor, that distinguished Penn- 
sylvanian, in which he undertook to combine 
farming, literature, and the study of nature. 
" Cedar Croft" was to become his beau ideal 
of that combination. We all remember how 
the scheme would not carry, and how he con- 
fessed that he was soon surfeited with mills 
and millers, blacksmiths and horseshoeing, 
with threshing machines and grain drills, with 
hydraulic rams and tree planting. He soon 
gave up the chase for pleasure after this fash- 
ion. It is even so. To breathe the pure 
atmosphere of enjoyment you must free your- 
self of personal anxiety and plunge into the 
secrets and solitude of the mountain fast- 
nesses, of lake, of river, of valley, and of plain. 
You must cro where the mosses are luxuriant, 
where the shadows flit b\' in ever-varvino- 



40 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

shapes, where the stream creeps lazily over 
the rocks, and where the squirrel cracks his 
acorns. This is what gives one an appetite 
for the dinner table, helps him to throw off 
business cares, and sweetens his daily cup. It 
is then that the best and bravest things come 
to the front and the mysteries of life cease 
to fret and chafe the most sensitive natures. 

There is a smack of romance as well as 
rhythm about the names of the hills and 
streams and mountains of this part of the 
State which is jjcculiarly agreeable to Penn- 
sylvanians, wdierever they may live. In 
the dugouts on the prairie, the cottages of 
the South, and even beyond the sea, Cone- 
wao-o, Conewinoro, Conodooruinet, Conestoea, 
Catoctin, Codorus, Yellow Breeches, Wico- 
nisco, Mahantango, Swatara, Kittatinny, etc., 
are household w^ords. They link God's works 
with that dim and uncertain past which has 
such a charm for those who believe in the 
common brotherhood of men of everv race. 

It is altogether probable that William Penn, 
wdiose first visit to Pennsvlvania was bet\ve(;n 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 4 1 

A. D. 1 682-1 685, never ascended the river of 
his great " Forest Country " farther than the 
mouth of Swatara Creek, at Middletown. He 
found only the shghtest remnant of the orig- 
inal Susquehannocks. These, the original 
people as far as we can trace, had all disap- 
peared except a few Conestogas. They were 
certainly located all along the Susquehanna 
before A. D. 1600, and could put thirteen hun- 
dred warriors in the field at any time, trained 
to the use of firearms, which had been fur- 
nished them probably by the vSwedes of Dela- 
ware. Captain John Smith's expedition up the 
Susquehanna in 1608 found them at war with 
the Mohawks. In 1633 they fought the Algon- 
quins along the Atlantic seaboard. Their most 
noted war chief was Barefoot (Hochetageti). 
The governor of Maryland denounced them as 
" public enemies." Even the Five Nations, 
with the aid of the French, could do but little 
with them. Their numbers were greatl}' re- 
duced by pestilence and war, and in 1675 they 
were overthrown, a remnant fleeing to west- 
ern Maryland and Mrginia, where their chiefs 
were put to death. A border war of violence 
was carried forward until they were almost 



42 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

destroyed. The Conestogas, a remnant of 
them, returned to Lancaster County. They 
were friendly and peaceable. One of their 
leading kinoes was Shanazan, and the council 
fire was below the mouth of the Conestoga 
Creek. 

A French writer has said that the contracts 
made by William Penn with the Indians in 
the New World were the only ones in the 
annals of time that were not sworn to and 
not broken. This is altogether too strong 
language, but it is an admirable compliment 
to our Quaker father. The Susquehanna 
lands came into possession of the Five Na- 
tions about the time of his first visit to Amer- 
ica. When the " woods," lying between the 
Lehiorh and Delaware rivers, was sold to him 
it was called " The Walkincr Purchase." One 
man complained that, although the contract 
included all the lands bounded by the "walk 
of a day and a half," the fellows who did 
the walking had /oo long legs. Some said they 
ran part of the way and that they stuck to the 
river paths too much. But the majority of the 
leaders said that it was all fair, and that this 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 43 

copper-colored crank was an unruly fellow, 
was always giving them trouble, and ought to 
be driven back into the woods to Shohomokin 
(Sunbury) or else to Wyoming. So the race 
of cranks antedates our day. 

The year 1714 was a marked era in the 
history of the Indian tribes of central Penn- 
sylvania. It was the adoption of the Tusca- 
roras into the Five Nations, consisting of the 
Oneidas, Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, 
and Senecas, thus making the Six Nations. 
The Shawnees were the gypsies of the country. 
They had been driven out of the Carolinas, 
and the sachems of the Six Nations crranted 
them a foothold in the Cumberland valley. 
Afterward they were allowed to come north- 
ward, and large numbers of them squatted on 
the flats near Wilkesbarre and called their 
group of lodges Waijomic. 



Harrisburg, } j^^^. 

Dauphin County, Pa., i 

THE Knights of the Quill have long since 
quit poking fun at Harrisburgers for 
living in " Sleepy Hollow." It has sloughed 
off its swaddling clothes. Steam, electricity, 
and capital have given it the air of an inland 
city. It lies here upon the great highways to 
the South and North, the West and East, 
and has a population of forty thousand. 

From the dome of the Capitol the view is 
enchanting. Yonder against the horizon are 
the Catoctin hills. The Susquehanna breaks 
through the gap on its way to the sea ; the 
great Pennsylvania Railroad system is flushed 
with life ; the sun kisses the Cumberland val- 
ley ; the streets are busy ; and the legislative 
clans are gathering, as it is high noon. There 
is somethintr commanding- about beinQ^ the 

o o o 

head political center of a great commonwealth 
like Pennsylvania. The original citizens who 
remain are very proud of the place. But it 
did not slide easily into its fortunes. Phila- 
delphia was the capital of the State for many 
44 




IN THE CAPITOL GROUNDS AT HARRISCURG, PA. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 47 

years, and would not object to a change at 
this late day, but the geographical position 
that Harrisburg holds will make it the capi- 
tal during the life of the republic. 

It is now two hundred years since Lieuten- 
ant Governor John Evans of the province of 
Pennsylvania came here with a squad of men 
to search for some rascally trader who was 
making trouble among the red men. This is 
said to be the first written statement concern- 
ing this locality. The Turkeys and Turtles 
were in possession, with a chief at their head 
by the name of Assurnpinks. The elder John 
Harris, who came to America with Mr. Penn, 
was induced to come into this " up-river coun- 
try " in I 705 and carry on a trade with the In- 
dians in furs, trinkets, and whisky. He was the 
son of an English brewer. He found here an 
Indian village called Peixtang ; also two oth- 
ers on the opposite shore of the Susquehanna, 
one at the mouth of Yellow Breeches Creek, 
and the other at the mouth of the Conodo- 
guinet. Mr. Harris's license, which allowed 
him to " seat his business on the Susque- 
hanna," made the Indians very " uneasie." 



48 UP THE SUS()UEIIANNA. 

The story of the attempted burning of Mr. 
Harris by a band of drunken vShawnee In- 
dians is quite well authenticated. They lived 
on the north branch of the Susquehanna, and 
had been on a fishing expedition at Conewago 
Falls. On their return they demanded rum. 
When he refused to give it he wsls caught 
and tied to an old mulberry tree on the banks 
of the river, the faggots piled about him, and 
while the dance of death was going on he was 
rescued by a body of friendly Indians from 
across the river, who had been notified by 
Hercules, an able-bodied slave owned by Mr. 
Harris. For this exploit Hercules got his 
freedom in 1718, and was perhaps the first 
slave freed on American soil. Mr. Harris was 
buried where the tragedy was to have oc- 
curred, and the stump with its peculiar history 
was preserved as a memento of the occasion 
until its destruction in the Susquehanna fiood 
in 1889. 

John Harris, Jr., is the real founder of Har- 
risburg. He was a mlHtary storekeeper, and 
had much correspondence with the State 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 49 

officials, which is interestino- reading to-day. 

It is said that when a babe his godly mother 

carried him from Harrisburg to Philadelphia 

to have him baptized. Mr. Harris constructed 

his "ferry" across the river in 1753, and laid 

out the town in 1784. He predicted that 

the town would become a ereat commercial 

<_> 

center, and donated to the State part of the 
" Hill "where the Capitol buildings stand, and 
induced his son-in-law, a Mr. McClay, to sell 
at a nominal figure the remaining necessary 
ground. One of the supreme judges deter- 
mined to have the town called Louisburg, and 
succeeded in having an act of Assembly passed 
to have it so. He held that if the county be 
called Dauphin in honor of the French king, 
the town should be called Louis for the king's 
son. The English blood began to tingle in 
the veins of Mr. Harris, and with much show 
of anorer he declared that no name but Har- 
risburg should appear in any deed that would 
come from his pen. The Englishman won the 
day. 

The Federal Congress at its session in 
New York city, A. D. 1789,. discussed seri- 



50 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

ously the subject of making- Harrisburg the 
seat of the United States Government. The 
members from the Southern States demurred 
with much bad blood. At one time it seemed 
as if the question might end in the withdrawal 
of the South from the Union. It is said that 
only the mollifying words of Mr. Washington 
and Mr. Jefferson brought about a compro- 
mise and fixed it at the District of Columbia. 

The fixing of the seat of the State govern- 
ment was an equally violent measure. Phila- 
delphia refused to listen to the clamor of the 
western counties for removal. Carlisle, the 
seat of Dickinson College, pressed its claims, 
and succeeded in orettinor a resolution throuorh 
the House of Representatives fixing that place 
as the capital. Reading and Northumberland 
were formidable rivals of Harrisburg, the lat- 
ter coming off first best by a single vote. 

What extremely modest Capitol buildings 
are these for so great a State ! If Mr. Penn 
had been the architect they would not have 
been plainer. But there is a substantial and 
commanding appearance about them that 



UF THE SUSQUEHANNA. 5 I 

makes them " fill the bill " for practical pur- 
poses. The main building is one hundred and 
eighty feet front, eighty feet deep, and several 
stories high. The six Ionic columns in front 
are made of red sandstone and painted white. 
The Senate Chamber, as well as that of the 
House, is somewhat cramped and ill-ven- 
tilated. The . new buildings now in process 
of erection have the modern stamp upon 
them, and promise great utility. Capitol 
Park should have extended to the river 
front, as was the original intention. Had the 
low ground fronting the Capitol — " McClay's 
Dense Swamp, almost impenetrable to dogs " 
— anything to do with the failure 7 Or were 
prices too high ? 

A few bronze statues of distinguished 
Pennsylvanians need to be erected amid this 
wealth of beauty in shrubbery and trees. It 
is now seventy-five years since the corner 
stone of the Capitol building was laid, when 
Dr. Mason, President of Dickinson College, 
was the orator of the day. 

What means this great array of blood- 
stained battle flags so carefully guarded by 



52 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

an old soldier ? Do they tell the story of a 
fratricidal war? Weather-stained and blood- 
stained they are Indeed, and fully charged 
with holy memories. Stalwart men with great 
patriotic hearts and philanthropic purposes 
died within sight of these colors. Gettys- 
burg and the Rapidan, Chancellorsvllle and 
Chlckamauga, are mentioned with bated 
breath, because our sons and brothers went 
down Into the jaws of death, and too few of 
them came back to tell the story of blood and 
tears. 



Camp on the Conodoguinet, / y^-,^ 

Cumberland County, Pa., \ 

THAT was a great travesty upon justice 
and common sense that I witnessed to- 
day in the Legislature of Pennsylvania. It 
was a discussion of lightening taxes so as to 
relieve the farmers. Every speech glossed 
over that prolific source of oppression — the 
sale of alcoholic spirits, with its consequent 
evils in crime and poverty. One made bold 
enough to apologize for that trade in saying 
that absurd thing, that the State could not 
maintain a revenue sufficient for all purposes 
if it were not for license money. These 
servants of the people have become the rulers. 
Instead of allowine the matter of the barter 
and sale of rum to be optional with the 
people of any given neighborhood, and to 
say so by vote, they hedge up the way by 
saying that it would be special legislation, 
which the constitution forbids. Indeed, these 
men compel the courts first to open doors of 
infamy and then to arraign and tondemn the 
culprits who have been maddened at the public 

53 



54 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

bars. The idea of removlnor the main cause 
of the evil so that the effects might be swept 
away at once does not seem to enter their 
partisan brains. The time for taking wild 
game is rigidly fixed ; the time for angling 
for trout and bass rigidly fixed ; the 
premiums for scalping destructive animals 
raised and lowered ; the tax on wool care- 
fully guarded — but the boys who are soon to 
become voters and lawmakers are committed 
to the tender mercies of saloon men. In- 
deed, it would seem that the patience of 
Christian people would soon be exhausted in 
submittino- to the saloon business, through 
which men spend their money, so that when 
sickness and poverty overtake them Christian 
people must make provision for their support. 
The first white citizen of Harrisbure was the 
son of a brewer. Are we to understand that 
he was the " prophet of evil " wdiose succes- 
sion is never to come to an end .^ 

What eminent men have been temporary 
residents or guests of this honored city ! An 
old citizen repeated in my hearing to-day 
the toast of General Lafayette at a dinner 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 55 

tendered him : " The State of Pennsylvania — 
First founded upon the basis of justice and 
philanthropy, now governed by universal 
suffrage on the unalloyed principle of equal 
rights. May it long preserve these dignified 
and fruitful blessincrs ! " 

The great evangelist, George Whitefield, on 
his tour from the South to New England, 
spent some time here in the year t 740, electri- 
fying and captivating wonderful audiences, 
the people coming as they did for many miles. 
The revival that swept over the town was re- 
markable for its intense spirituality and be- 
neficent results. 

Charles Dickens refers in one of his 
volumes to having spent some hours in 
Harrisburg, noted for the picturesqueness of 
its scenery and the philanthropic spirit of its 
citizens. His stao^e ride from York and 
thence by packet to Pittsburg is a well- 
known story. 

The names of illustrious statesmen, artists, 
and poets grace the registry of the city's 
hospitality, and are preserved as heirlooms in 
the memory of many of the old people — Ben 
Franklin, always a welcome guest ; Thaddeus 



56 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Stevens, the great commoner and father of the 
common school system of this State ; General 
Washington, the ideal American ; Prince De 
Joinville, son of Louis Philippe of France ; 
U. S. Grant, Matthew Simpson, with nameless 
others whose lives were distincruished for 
services upon the field of letters or the field 
of battle. 

That celebrated ni£{ht fiiorht of Mr. Lincoln 
to Washington prior to his inauguration was 
executed from Harrisl^urg, by which a possible 
tragedy was prevented, as the conspiracy 
to assassinate him was said to have been con- 
ceived and arrangements made to be carried 
out in the city of Baltimore. 

^- 

The Executive Chamber is adorned with 
life-size portraits in oil of many members of 
the Proprietary Government, 1681-1776; 
presidents of the Supreme Executive Coun- 
cil, I 777-1 790; and governors, 1790- 1894. 
Here are the Penns — admirable men — ^whose 
o^olden words q-q rlnoincr around the o-lobe 
like the sweet tones of the Old Liberty Bell 
when It proclaimed the decrees of the Con- 
vention ; Thomas Mifflin, first orovernor, ex- 



UP TIIK SUSQUEHANNA. 57 

pellecl from the Society of Friends for tak- 
ing up arms ; Thomas McKean, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence ; 
FIndlay, Hiester, Wolfe, and RItner ; the 
eloquent William F. Johnston; Francis R. 
Shunk, the honest Dutchman ; the great 
war governor, Andrew G. Curtin ; the 
patriotic James A. Beaver, and the philan- 
thropic Robert E. Pattlson. The counties 
washed by the Susquehanna In furnishing 
their quotas boast of Simon Snyder, of Selln's 
Grove; James Pollock, William F. Packer, 
and William BIgler, from the West Branch 
region, and Henry M. Hoyt, from W^Ilkes- 
barre. 

The Forestry Commission of the State 
has a standing *' object lesson " here In 
Capitol Park for the citizens of the Common- 
w^ealth In the larcre number and varied charac- 
ter of the trees which are planted within the 
Inclosure. There are possibly five hundred, 
with sixty distinct varieties. The red ash, 
white ash, and English ash are in large 
numbers. The buttonwood, sycamore, Indian 
bean, linden, basswood, Norway spruce, white 



55 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

poplar, Ohio buckeye, horse-chestnut, sugar 
maple, Norway maple, slipper}^ elm, white elm, 
silver maple, and common locust abound. 
" Arbor Day," which has been popularized 
lately, will develop in the State a love for 
tree planting, practiced by the men who in 
the earlier times indulo;ed also in the inno- 
cent pastime of watching the affairs of the 
people from the " Hill." 

The boast that this city is still American 
seems to be well founded, as is manifest in the 
observance of the holy Sabbath. In spite of 
the fact that some lines of travel are open 
that day, the religious element is in the 
ascendency, church-going is a habit, and great 
reverence is paid to the Lord's Day by busi- 
ness men of all shades of thought. The 
hardy old Scotch notion of the day, planted 
here in ante-revolutionary times, has not 
vanished. The old " Derry Meetinghouse," 
located a few miles from the city, built 
certainly before 1730, was a rallying point 
for many years of the men who believed that 
the perpetuity of the nation depended upon 
the manner In which the ereat God and his 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 59 

day were regarded. It stood as a memorial 
of this idea until lately. The quaint architec- 
ture, hallowed memories, and distinguished 
leadership made it a shrine and a stone of 
help to all lovers of good government at 
home and in the nation. 




NORTH AND WEST BRANCHES OF THE 
SUSQUEHANNA AT NORTHUMBERLAND, PA. 



The Shikellimy House, 



June. 



BLUE HILL," 
North and W( 



Union County, Pa., ^ 

at the junction of the 

est Branches of the river, 

is a precipitous bhiff on the west bank of the 

latter stream, and from the spacious verandas 

of the Shikelhmy House, which grace its 

crest, the prospect is enchanting-. The field 

glass brings into ready vision first of all the 

" r^Tontour Ridge," then the Shamokin Hills, 

then the North Branch Ri\er winding lazily 

along through the valley, and the beautiful iron 

city of Danville in the background. These 
60 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA, 6l 

are all to the northeast. IJue north are the 
rich river-bottom farms, the pride of Pennsyl- 
vanians all around the Mobe. The oreat red 
barns are not now absent. The shocks of corn 
are not now in the fields, nor are the plowmen 
turning over the furrows. The sun floods the 
scarlet maples until they make you think of 
the bush at Horeb. The aster and the gold- 
en-rod are not in bloom. Nature is still at 
work, but v/hen the black frosts come they 
will play mischief with the scene. To the 
south the celebrated Packer's Island, with its 
model farm ; the ambitious town of Sunbury, 
and the " crooked river," a silver cord, connect- 
ing your thoughts with the sea ; and at your 
feet, across the stream, the historic village of 
Northumberland. 

Love has its revenges ! Old John Mason, 
a queer chap who had been jilted by a Phila- 
delphia girl, came to this hill and forest and 
built for himself a hermitage before the dawn 
of the present century. He walked the en- 
tire distance. Amid these primordial rocks 
and in the solitude of these woods he wished 
to spend the remnant of his life. He built a 



62 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

second house overhanging the chffs at a very 
abrupt and dangerous angle — a kind of lean- 
inor tower of Pisa — and which became in after 
years a very popular resort. From this quaint 
outlook he made his daily observations. That 
little love quarrel ! Was it cut short by the 
skeptical tendencies of the old bachelor ? or 
was it the enrapturing presence and attrac- 
tions of the other fellow } Whatever may 
have been the cause of the " break," the com- 
pensations were deemed sufficient in this 
fellowship of the external world. When the 
clock of time made for him the eiofhtieth 
stroke he w^as buried under the trees in this 
his " My Lady's Manor." 

A combination of events at once sinorular 
and apparently accidental gives a towai prom- 
inence and renders it forever historic. Such 
is Northumberland. The coming of Dr. Jo- 
seph Priestley — chemist, philosopher, theolo- 
gian, historian, politician — to this place has 
made Northumberland a household word in 
the homes of scientific men throughout the 
world. It is the old story : poverty, orphan- 
hood, fighting for health, but climbing up into 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 63 

eminent success in authorship and discovery. 
The scholars still read his Electricity, his 
Matter and Spirit, his Vision of Lights and 
Colors. The chemists of the Old World lone 
ago embalmed his great deed, the discovery 
of oxygen, and congregated here in convention 
in his honor in 1883. The old story of his 
coming, his personal losses, his motives, his 
eccentricities of belief, and the enthusiastic 
reception accorded him by the people were the 
themes for table talk in our boyhood home. 
Mr. Priestley's old-fashioned telescope, as well 
as his microscope, are heirlooms at Dickinson 
College. The old church where he wor- 
shiped is in decay, and the cows of the vil- 
lage go browsing among the tombs of his 
generation. 

Thirty minutes upon the bicycle brings 

you to the " Old Vincent Mansion," the early 

home of one of the commanding spirits of 

modern times — Bishop John H. Vincent. 

Heredity may have credit with somewhat of 

Mr. Vincents enthusiastic devotion to youth, 

as his father was a wise and discriminating 

reader of classical literature, capable in all Bible 
6 



64 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

lines, and especially a pleader for Christian 
culture; but the son has pushed far past the 
father and touched the scepter of a dominat- 
ing" influence in society. He is known in all 
lands as the sagacious organizer of proud ed- 
ucational systems, and keeps in daily touch 
with the needs of humanity at home or abroad. 

A slioht chanoe of the field oflass reveals 
the outlines of a grave in yonder village 
of Sunbury that awakens a thousand holy 
memories. It is the grave of George Foll- 
mer, one of nature's noblemen ; and the 
chronicles of the Susquehanna would be alto- 
gether incomplete without the mention of his 
name. His boyhood was stern, tough, and 
unhappy; but in after years he became an 
intense student of truth and a valiant defender 
of business integrity and honest living. The 
great essentials of literature were coals of fire 
in his brain, which in turn could create a fiame 
in others or put out the little candle of error 
in the foes of truth. In love with the external 
world, his excursions on the lake, formed by 
the junction of the two rivers, became a daily 
exhilaration. Nothing was so delightful to 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 65 

him as the crested hilltops, the mists hang- 
ing about them, the great rugged cliffs, the 
fugitive shadows lingering in the waters, the 
flying clouds, the early stars, the harvest 
moon. Victor Huoo asks whether the orrave 
is a cul-de-sac. He answers his own question 
by saying '' that it surely is not ; but rather 
the sublime prolongation of life, and not its 
dreary finish." 

There are some other prominent names 
associated with this region that may not go 
unmentioned. They are Conrad Weiser, the 
German interpreter for the government in old 
Indian times, Shikellimy, the Iroquois chief, 
and his distinguished son, Logan. There 
were three villages located at the forks of the 
Susquehanna, one on Packer's Island, one 
near where Northumberland stands, and the 
third on the present site of Sunbury. This 
trianorular villacre was called Shohomokin, and 
was deemed quite an important point by the 
provincial government. Governor Patrick 
Gordon prevailed upon Shikellimy, who was 
at the head of some warriors at the north, to 
come to Shohomokin to act as a daysman 



66 UP THE SUS(}UEHANNA. 

between some subjugated tribes and the 
government. He first located twenty miles 
up the West Branch, and subsequently moved 
here. He had many noble characteristics. 
He was sober, prudent, and circumspect, a 
man of peace. He was kind, thoughtful, and 
of a playful disposition. He accepted Chris- 
tianity under Bishop Von Watteville, of the 
Moravian Mission Band, and after serving the 
government well was honored with a Chris- 
tian burial. 

Logan, whose name appears frequently in 
the annals of Pennsylvania, and whose speech 
in behalf of his countrymen was complimented 
by Thomas Jefferson, lived at the mouth of 
the Chillisquaque Creek (frozen duck ); thence 
he moved to the Tuscarora Mountains, and 
thence to the Ohio valley. His sense of 
right and of justice was said to have been 
strongly developed in his earlier and middle 
life, but, becoming seriously involved in diffi- 
culties of a national character, and falling into 
bad habits, he met a violent end. 



Packer's Island, i 

Northumberland County, Pa., ("^"^®* 

THE monotony of my afternoon to-day 
was broken by a ride in a skiff with some 
bright boys around Packer's Island. The 
boys were bristling with all manner of hard 
questions about the early history of this re- 
gion. They found many arrowheads, crowfeet, 
and some crockery at the head of the island, 
and knowing that this was the seat of an In- 
dian village they became deeply interested. 

" I should like to know," said Olin Houck, 
"where all these copper-colored fellows came 
from, anyhow, and how they got down here } " 

"Well, everybody wonders, but nobody can 
tell exactly where they did come from. The 
most reliable historians say they came from 
the West by way of the great Northern lakes, 
but how they got into America is a puzzle." 

" Did I understand you to say that the 
whole western part of the United States was 
alive with them ? " 

"They seemed to occupy almost all the 

country. We read about the Dakotas, the 

67 



68 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Shoshones, the Klamaths, and Californias in 
the extreme West, and of the Conianches, 
Mobihans, Cherokees, and others in the 
South." 

"Those are all familiar names," said Olin, 
"and I suppose Susquehanna, Chillisquaque, 
Kishacoquillas, Chautauqua, and so on, got 
their names from these fellows } " 

" Exactly." 

" Well," said Fred Fisher, " they never built 
any towns or cities, and just roamed about 
here and there, so that it would be hard to 
say just where they were located." 

" That is true only in part. Certain sections 
were regarded as belonging to certain tribes, 
and the boundary lines were by some river or 
mountain rano-e." 

Charles Vastine, who was listening Intently, 
said, " Well, I never could get the exact story 
fixed in my mind about the people who lived 
in Pennsylvania and New York, and especially 
along the Susquehanna." 

" The Algonquins roamed over a vast terri- 
tory included now in Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, the southern part of Pennsylvania, 
Viro^inia, and on to Ohio and Illinois. The 



UP THE SUSQUEHx\NNA. . 69 

Huron Iroquois lived about the Northern 
lakes — Huron, Erie, Ontario, etc. If you 
take the map of the United States and fix 
your eye upon the western boundary of 
Vermont, run it along the great lakes of Erie 
and Ontario, thence to the valley of the 
Ohio, south into Virginia, and, finally, north- 
east to Lake Champlain, you will describe 
the lands which our dusky friends called 
'The Long House.' It was more than a 
thousand miles in length, and but one third 
of that in width, and was shaped something 
like a huge canoe. They might have named 
it very appropriately ' The Long, Narrow 
House.' " 

"It must have been a very elegant place 
to live in," said Olin, " although I should 
like to have something better to live in 
than one of those old smoky wigwams." 

" Yes. The people who live there to-day 
think that nothing could be more delightful 
than some of its rich valleys, changing land- 
scapes, and healthful climate." 

" It seems to me," said Olin, "that the red 
men themselves ought to have had some no- 
tion of where they came from, did they not .?" 



70 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

"Yes, particularly the Iroquois." 
"Who were the Iroquois, pray tell .^ " 
"The Iroquois consisted of the following 
tribes : the Mohawks, who lived about the 
Hudson, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the 
Senecas, and the Cayugas, all of central New 
York. They were called the Five Nations." 
" What was their notion } " said Charles. 
" I was about to say that the Iroquois used 
to tell their children some very queer stories 
about it. They said that Manitou, the Creator, 
raised A-kan-ish-iou-egy out of the waters, 
who said, ' I will now make some red men.' 
He then took five handfuls of red seeds like 
the eggs of flies, and scattered them about the 
fertile fields of Onondaga (Syracuse, N. Y.). 
Little worms came out of these, and spirits 
came into them. After a oood while these 
worms got little arms and feet, and after nine 
moons out came bright-eyed boys and girls. 
Manitou then kissed them, covered them over 
with clouds, and nourished them with milk 
from the ends of his finders. For nine sum- 
mers he nursed them tenderly. For nine 
summers more he taught them eagerly. Then 
he called them all tooether and said : * Ye are 



UP THE SUSOUEIIAXXA. 7 1 

five, yet one. Beasts and birds and fishes ye 
shall have in common. Live in peace, and ye 
shall have power to increase.' After all this 
he wrapped himself in one of the bright clouds 
of heaven and flew to the sun as swift as an 
arrow from the bow. Nozu the Five Nations 
had the power and the right to live. But 
before leaving Manitou gave them each a 
secret blessino^. One of these families he 
called A-quon-osh-on-ior, or Onondagas. He 
said that because they were so very wise 
and just and eloquent they should be the 
head. He went on to say that they should 
have an abundance of squashes, grapes, and 
tobacco ; that they should live on the top of a 
hill, as that was the meaning of their name. 

" This was the way the Onondagas selected 
the central rooms of this orreat ' Narrow' 
House' in central New York. It was a pleasant 
and fruitful country and very much admired. 
In the middle of this central room they kindled 
a great 'Council Fire' and called it Onon- 
daga. The beautiful city of Syracuse, N. Y., 
is built upon that spot. Alongside of that 
fire flowed the gentle Zinochsaa. Garangula 
was made the sachem (civil chief) of the 



72 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

people, and to him they all agreed to look for 
advice and consolation. And now said they, 
'Our brothers shall come from the sun rising, 
the sun standincr and the sun settinir and talk 
matters over with us, and we will always be 
good friends.' 

"Three hundred and fifty of them agreed to 
stand guard and be ready for any service. 
These they called the 'painted warriors.'" 

" How cute that story is," cried a bevy of 
girls who "had joined our party. "A regular 
fairy story ! Perhaps Baron Munchausen 
traveled amono- the Indians. But did Mani- 
tou give no secret to the other tribes of the 
Iroquois ?" 

"O, )'es! And the women kept repeating 
them so often that everybody believed them 
to be true. Manitou called the second great 
family the Mohawks — the oldest brother 
— and said their name meant ' the fire-strik- 
ing race.' Because their young men were so 
brave they were promised plenty of corn for 
food, and that one of their number should 
become the great war chief of the Five 
Nations, and should use guns. He should 
muster three hundred able-bodied fellows for 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 73 

battle. 1 his family were to live on the bor- 
ders of the rising sun, and were to open wide 
the door of the 'Long, Narrow House' so 
that the sun might shine in upon their beds. 

" Manitou spoke softly also to the Oneldas, 
or ' Stone Pipe Makers.' They were to live 
between the Mohawks and the OnondaQ;as. 
They were to be called the oldest son, and 
were to be patient in pain and hunger, and if 
they were so they should never be without 
either nuts or the fruit of trees. Two hun- 
dred were to be chosen as soldiers." 

" Well ! well ! " cried all the boys, " it must 
have been real interesting to have listened to 
those stories, even if the wigwams did smoke 
a little. Perhaps some of the evenings were 
spent in that way after the chase. But please 
tell us about the other secrets." 

" The Senecas came next, and Manitou 
called them the next younirest son. Beine 
by far the most numerous and powerful they, 
by common consent, occupied the apartments 
in the far west of the ' House.' They were set 
with their ten hundred warriors to guard the 
gate where the sun went clown. Quick-witted, 
industrious, and persevering, the Great Spirit 



74 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

was to honor them with great wdiite beans at 
every meal and give them a special chance in 
the great hereafter. 

" Lastly came the Cayugas. Because they 
were friendly and strong and generous Mani- 
tou orave to them the erand huntine s^rounds 

o o o <_> 

stretching from the Northern lakes down 
through the rich valleys watered by the 
long- winding Susquehanna even to Shoho- 
mokin, where we now are. Three hundred 
and fifty warriors pledged themselves that the 
white man should not encroach upon their 
lands from the South, and that the smoke of 
their camp fires should always be seen even to 
the extremity of their borders. 

" We have said this ' Long, Narrow House,' 
was a lovely home. As it is getting late we 
have only time to describe it. There were 
beautiful vales, nameless tracts of woodland, 
magnificent waterfalls, splendid lakes of fresh 
water, great reaches of rolling lands as fruitful 
as gardens, and every hilltop filled with wild 
fiowers and vines. In the forests roamed at 
will the bear, the deer, the panther, the fox, 
the wolf, and all manner of palatable game. 
The streams were filled wath salmon, pike, 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 75 

trout, perch, shad, herring, and other varieties 
of tish, while along the banks the otter and 
beaver played or toiled. Overhead many- 
colored birds, seeking at intervals their North- 
ern and Southern homes, made the air vocal 
with their sono-s. x\ccordinof to their notion 

o o 

Manitou had been very kind to them in con- 
structing great stairways — the ' Alleghanies,' 
the 'Blue Mountains,' the 'Bald Eagle,' and 
' White Deer ' mountains and the Kittatinny, 
Catoctin, and Monsey hills. Upon these lofty 
heights the wild sons of nature climbed up 
almost to the clouds, and catching sight of the 
far-off lands which they could neither touch 
nor paint — the everlasting hunting grounds 
— they spake sometimes one to another of the 
wisdom, power, and glory of the Great Spirit. 
" The roof of their ' Long, Narrow House' 
was the same blue heavens that you see above 
you to-day. The sunbeams darted into every 
nook, the moonbeams sat quietly on hill and 
dale or river and plain, while the stars, like 
golden eyes, looked out from the inside of 
heaven to see whatever was to be seen. Seven 
thousand red men lay down each night upon 
the grassy earth, wrapping about them their 



"J^ UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

warm blankets, to sleep away the long hours 
of the night. On the morrow, like the people 
who live here to-day, they started out to get 
their bread and meat. 

" And now, boys and girls, if you call your- 
selves the Iroquois Club, and will meet me 
to-morrow afternoon at two o'clock at my 
rooms in the Shikellimy House, I will tell 
you more about the Susquehanna and its 
early people." 

''Agreed! agreed!" came as a unanimous 
verdict. 



Camp Fort Augusta, / _ 

^/ , xV June, 

bunbury, Pa., \ 

THE Iroquois Club was true to its engage- 
ment of yesterday, and the spacious par- 
lors of the Shikellimy House were put at our 
service. The young president took the chair, 
for, as we learned in the meantime, an organi- 
zation had been effected. The secretary called 
the roll, with all the members present. A reso- 
lution was offered by Olin Houck that the talk 
this afternoon, should be in the nature of an 
address, without any interruptions from the 
members of the club. The proposition was 
agreed to, and by request we spoke as follow^s 
on " Etchings of Indian Life : " 

My Young Friends: It gives me pleasure 
to make you familiar with the Susquehanna 
valley, both of the North and West Branches. 
My first subject will be " vShikellimy, the Iro- 
quois Chief" An Indian boyhood two hundred 
years ago must have been a very exciting 
thing. It certainly could have had but few 
touches of melancholy in it. Think of it, a 

77 



78 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

life in the depths of the great American forests 
two hundred years ago ? Why, New York and 
Philadelphia and Boston were only villages ! 
The Middle States and the oreat West were 
vast tracts of unpeopled wildernesses. And 
as for the rich fields from which millions of 
bushels of grain are raised to feed the people ; 
or the orreat mines out of which we oet our coal 
and gold ; or railroads, telegraphs, telephones, 
etc., they were not to be once mentioned. Far 
up in the region of lakes Ontario and Erie 
lived an Oneida warrior and his squaw. To 
their wigwam one night came a chubby-faced, 
tan-colored, black-eyed little fellow whom they 
called Shikellimy. The old medicine man 
seemed much deliohted the first time he oot 
his eyes upon him, and said loud enough to be 
heard by the whole family: " Big Injun some 
day; big Injun!" The bear feast and the 
dance next evenino- lasted a lon^" time, for the 
camp fires were smoking yet when the sun 
shone in from the land of the Mohawks. 

It was the month when the bucks were 
casting their antlers (December), and the wild 
winds came out fiercely. The kindlino^ embers 
swept among the leaves and the neighboring 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 79 

forests were soon on fire and burned for many 
days in the direction of the Onondagas. 
This was a bad omen for the newborn babe, 
and was the source of much superstitious 
fear. 

Some Jesuit fathers — JoHet, Allouez, and 
Marquette — were visiting at this time the 
barefooted Hurons, a tribe of Indians north- 
ward, now known as the Canadas. These 
bachelor young men, in order to win the 
Hurons to their faith, were, Hke them, Hving 
upon roots and wild game. They waded the 
streams, they slept upon the rocks, they en- 
dured the frosts and storms. By everything 
that was good they determined not to yield 
until they had taught these children of the 
woods how to count the beads in prayer and 
say the " Ave Marias," how to cut the cross of 
the Saviour upon the giant trees of the 
forest, 

" And in the darkling wood 

Amid the cool and silence, 

To kneel down and offer to the Mightiest 

Solemn thanks and supplications." 

Sangamon was dispatched at once for the 
priests of the new religion. He carried with 



8o UP THE SUS()UE1IAXNA. 

him some skins and wampum (money) as a 
present, and was mighty in his appeals. 

One of the Jesuits agreed to go with him, 
as it might be the means of opening up a 
fresh field in their Christian work. He re- 
fused, however, to receive any presents. The 
journey was tedious and beset with much 
embarrassment. At nightfall of the third day 
the missionary and his guide reached the 
place. 

The superstitious fears which had been ex- 
cited were not subdued until the Indian boy 
had been sprinkled with water and incense 
was burned in the presence of the women. 

Time passed on. Shikellimy grew bigger. 
As he looked about upon the odd things in 
his father's wigwam he busied himself with 
flints, arrowheads, hatchets, beads, bows, and 
arrows. He soon began to make his own 
bows and arrows, and showed signs of great 
skill in that direction. He was quite a leader 
among the Oneida boys. He painted their 
faces in all manner of colors, filled their caps 
with feathers from the eagle, shot at marks, 
danced about the fires, and tried to catch the 
tones of the shrillest war whoop. Later on he 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 8 1 

paddled the canoe, brought home wild ducks 
and fish, joined in the excitement of the 
chase, and sat around the camp fires listening 
with breathless interest to the tales of the long 
ago. He often went to see the great waters 
as they swept down over the precipices at 
Niagara and seethed and foamed and tossed 
so grandly among the jagged rocks below. 
He climbed down the rugged sides of the hill, 
looked with childish wonder at the " Cave of 
the Winds," and then walked leisurely about 
where the " Three Sisters " and the " Bridal 
Veil " lie in golden beauty. And now you are 
wondering, perhaps, what name he gave to the 
" Horseshoe Falls." 

But childhood, whether sad or gay, soon 
passes, and so with the escape of the years 
Shikellimy became a young man. As love 
is all the same among whites, Indians, Chi- 
nese, Malays, or Negroes, we find him mar- 
rying a coy maiden of his own tribe and 
age and going off to set up housekeeping 
for himself. 

After the death of his father Shikellimy was 
elected to the headship of his own tribe, and 
was duly installed with great ceremonies. He 



82 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

soon showed himself a master in setthng dis- 
putes, directing- in business affairs, and nego- 
tiating with the whites, who were gradually 
pressing in from the seaboard. 

In the meantime that good old broadbrim, 
Miquon (William Penn), had organized his 
colony called Pennsylvania, with headquarters 
at Brotherly Love (Philadelphia). On Sep- 
tember 3, 1700, he bought the right and 
title to the lands on the Susquehanna, but 
permitted the Indians to remain unmolested. 
The forks of the Susquehanna here soon be- 
came an important place. As you know, it 
was called Shohomokin, and was perhaps the 
southernmost outpost of the Iroquois. The 
Tuscaroras, a tribe which had been driven 
out of North Carolina, and the Shawnees 
were largely in possession of the country. 
Other subtribes, as the Unami, Monseys, 
and Wun-al-ach-ti-kos were at times residents 
here. 

Governor Patrick Gordon, of Pennsylvania, 
in I 714, seeing the importance of the place, 
and knowing that naturally it might become 
the seat of bloody encounters, induced Shi- 
kellimy to come to Shohomokin and preside 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 83 

over the tribes along the river. He was to 
hold the balance of power between the Five 
Nations and the provincial government. Shi- 
kellimy consented to come. He proceeded 
cautiously at first, and for some reason located 
fifteen miles above Shohomokin, on the West 
Branch of the Susquehanna. He afterward 
moved here. 

Governor Gordon also appointed Conrad 
Weiser Indian agent and interpreter, who at 
once joined Shikellimy in the great work of 
maintaining peace. 

This is perhaps the key by which to unlock 
the mystery that the fields of Pennsylvania 
were so comparatively free from bloody 
massacres in the early times. 

Shikellimy's family consisted of Tag-he- 
negh-dou-rus, or the " Spreading Oak," a 
daughter who married Cajadus ; Logan, the 
celebrated Indian orator whom Thomas Jef- 
ferson complimented so highly ; and John 
Petty, named for a white trader who lived in 
the vicinity. 

Shikellimy had many excellent traits of 
character. There was a dignity about him 
which attracted everybody. His keen black 



cS4 Ur THE SUS(^UEIIAXXA. 

e)'cs tlashcd fire at the lowbred deeds of 
many of his fellows. Merry and playful In 
disposition, the ver)' boys and girls voted him 
a success. He was a sober man, shutting him- 
self up in his house for hours to get rid of the 
noisy talk of such as would be on a drunken 
spree. He said he wanted to build his house 
upon pillars for safety, and did not wish to 
become a fool. In this he must have taken 
the advice of F'ather Miquon, who always held 
that "drunkenness unmans men." Prudent 
and circumspect, he won the confidence of the 
government, and the colonial records often 
speak of him, and always with favor. When 
one of his children died and he was sick him- 
self the authorities condoled with him and 
sent him some presents. Wdien his whole 
family was down with the fever and ague and 
he had just buried three out of his house and 
none were left to hoe the corn, the oovern- 
ment came promptly to his relief 

The Moravian missionaries, who had a 
fiourlshino- mission station at Shohomokin, 
speak of Shikellimy as the soul of honor. 
When Bishop \'on \\^atte\ille preached to 
him in his own house the Lord opened his 



UP THE SUSnUEIIAXXA. 85 

heart and he received the truth. He heard 
the stor)' ot Jesus and the resurrection with 
oreat deHoht, and with earnestness he brouQrht 
out an idol and broke it up in the presence of 
the preachers and professed faith in Christ. 
From this time he became a Christian, and 
did much oood. 

His visits to Onondaga, Brotherly Love, 
and Bethlehem were all in the interest of 
peace. It was a difficult task to subdue 
tlie bloodthirsty dispositions of his people, 
led on by the fire Avater (whisky) of the 
trader, to adjust the misunderstanding as 
to boundary lines, and to quell the dare- 
devil spirit of the worst men of the tribes. 
But no massacres are recorded in central 
Pennsylvania until after his death. Blood- 
shed there was, but no serious murderous 
outbreaks. 

It was in the winter of i 748 that Shikellimy 
was attacked by a disease which proved fatal. 
After a return from Bethlehem, being more 
thoroughh' instructed in the Gospel, his life 
took on a hicrh form of submission and faith, 
and on December i 7 he died in the hope of 
a Qood future. 



?,6 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

The Moravian missionaries, Zeisberger and 
Fry, attended him in his iUness, made him a 
coffin, decked him with ornaments, and pre- 
pared him for burial. 

When the news reached the village, in 
every wigwam they repeated : " I hear sob- 
bing and sighing in yonder direction." 

The Monseys sent an embassy, saying : 
"Bury the dead and cover the grave with 
bark, that neither dew nor rain from heaven 
may fall upon it. Wipe off the tears from 
your eyes and take all sorrow out of your 
heart. We now put your heart in good order 
and make you cheerful." 

Upon yonder quiet bank of the Susque- 
hanna a company of the old women dug his 
grave. They chanted his virtues and wept 
for his sufferings. They gathered his arms 
and effects and stacked them about his dead 
body. After addresses by the missionaries 
they put the empty coffin in the grave 
and then let down his body into the cof- 
fin ; laid upon it a tinder box, knife, ket- 
tle, hatchet, bows, and arrows, and at sunset 
filled up the grave amid the laments of the 
villagers. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. S; 

"And o'er his arms and o'er his bones 
Thev raided a sini[)le pile of stones 
Which, hallowed by their tears and moans, 
Was all the Indian's monument. 

"And since the chieftain here has slept. 
Full many a winter's winds have swept 
And many an a,oe has softly crept 
Over his humble sepulcher." 

The boys and girls composing the dub, after 
getting this taste of the olden times, requested 
that to-morrow's hour be spent in giving some 
account of the " Moravian Heroes of Shoho- 
mokin," to which I consented. 



Sliikellimy House, I j 

Union County, Pa., ^ " 

AS the Iroquois Club consists of seven 
persons — three boys and four girls — 
and as information gotten at secondhand 
seems sometimes Insipid when compared 
with that which we search out for ourselves, 
the subjects I gave out yesterday wxre re- 
turned this afternoon as essays, and, after 
some corrections, were read. In opening the 
lyceum hour one of the girls read an 
original poem on '* The Susquehanna," after 
which, with some songs Interspersed, we pro- 
ceeded with the readings. The first paper 
was read by Edith Allen on 

THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE SUSQUEHANNA 
INDIANS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

The men who lived in the American forests 
two hundred years ago were not altogether 
cruel and destitute of humane feelings. 
There was much of nobility, generosit}', and 
kindness bound up in their natures. The 

Iroquois showed a magnanimous spirit to the 

88 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 89 

white men, and in tiie conduct of their home 
government seemed determined to transmit 
to their children the same dispositions. 

In selecting a chief to preside over the 
tribe they wanted not only a good marks- 
man, but one who was generous with his 
game after he had taken it. He was not 
only to be kind to his own people, but to be 
thoucrhtful in entertainino- strangers. He 
was to keep good order, decide quarrels, 
guard the door of peace, and look after the 
interest of the young. When installed as 
chief it was not infrequent that he addressed 
the youth, the aged, the women, and finally 
himself, setting forth the duties of each. All 
this was done in a very rude way indeed ; but 
it is easy to see how the germs of kindness, 
honesty, and right doing were lying in the 
heart and wanted to manifest themselves. 

But however good some of their intentions 
were, in practice they fell far below the true 
standard of morals as we have it to-day. In- 
deed, lust and passion ran riot. 

When the British Parliament wanted to 
arm the Indians against the colonists in the 
Revolution, Lord Chatham made a picture 



90 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

of their moral State. " Spain," said he, 
*' armed herself with bloodhounds to extir- 
pate the wretched natives of Mexico. We, 
more ruthless, let loose those brutal warriors 
against our countrymen. Shall we send forth 
the merciless red man, thirsting for blood, to 
lay waste the country, desolate their dwell- 
ings, and blot out forever their race and 
name? Nay! Let us stamp upon the in- 
famous procedure." 

We do not need to simply wonder why 
these people became so cruel and murderous. 
They and their forefathers had held the 
beautiful lands and waters of America for 
hundreds of years. Like the Eastern noble- 
man in the fable, they believed that their 
coat of arms was lying imbedded in every 
rock in the mountain, in every tree in the 
forest. 

To yield up their hunting grounds and 
quiet fishing places, and to be driven back 
into unknown wilds without pay or prom- 
ises, was enough to stir the fires of their 
proud and barbarous natures and make them 
resolve for hatred, burning, and death. The 
rum of the trader, which they had learned to 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 9 1 

love, only added fuel to the flame, and made 
them ready for the torch, the dagger, and the 
knife. Edith Allen. 

The spectators who were present at the 
reading seemed gratified with the essay, and 
applauded the reader. Charles Vastine, who 
was to present the next paper, excused him- 
self in part for want of time to prepare his 
paper, but said he had done the best he could 
under the circumstances. His subject was : 

character and errand of count NICHOLAS 

LOUIS zinzendorf. 
The Indian villages along the North and 
West Branches and vicinities, as far as I can 
find out, were named Ostenwaken, Ostuagy, 
Neskopeko, Wajomic, Mach-wihi-lusing, Sho- 
homokin, etc. The whole plot of the land- 
scape up and down and across this " Hill," 
whether seen in the crolden tints of autumn, 

o 

under the sweep of some violent storm or in 
the light of the harvest moon, was worthy of 
its great Creator. Shohomokin was the most 
important village. Here the kind Shikellimy 
lived. Here also three other chiefs lived. 
They were Al-um-mo-pees, Ope-kas-sel, and 



g2 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Shach-a-law-lln. Although inferior to Shi- 
keUimy, they were held in high esteem by the 
various governors of Pennsylvania. 

It was to these far-off heathen villages in 
North America that Count Zinzenclorf, 
founder of the Moravian Church, turned his 
steps as a missionary in A. D. 1742. He had 
been living in an old castle at Marienburg, 
Germany, on the banks of the Nogat. He 
had received his early religious impressions 
through the teachincrs of his orrandmother, to 
whom he often said he would like to establish 
a new Church, which he did. 

Becoming a man, he organized many 
schools for poor children, feeding and educat- 
ing these children out of his own pocket. He 
organized a religious society called " The 
Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed." 
Many of his students became missionaries, 
and went to China, Africa, and Greenland. 
One of these religious adventurers, Henry 
Rauch, came to America and settled among 
the Indians of Connecticut and New York. 
He preached the Gospel to them and after- 
ward to those in Pennsylvania, at Bethlehem 
and upon the Susquehanna. 



VV Till-: SUS(^UEIIANNA. 93 

At Bethlehem these two brothers in the 
Gospel met and consulted together. MnZin- 
zendorf, being anxious to visit the Five Na- 
tions, to tell them of a loving Saviour, set out 
through the wilderness with Conrad Weiser as 
a oruide, and reached Shohomokin on the 28th 
of September, 1742. He was cordially re- 
ceived by Chief Shikellimy, who, upon being 
told the character of his distinoruished miest 
and the long distance he had traveled, pre- 
sented him with a big watermelon. The 
count gave him in return a fur hunting cap. 

It did not require much time for Zin- 
zendorf to find out that he had eotten into 
a ver)^ Avlcked place. The fire w^ater of the 
trader had made the Susquehanna savages 
drunken and beastly, which, added to their 
superstitions, turned them into devils. At 
first, when he explained to them how sinful it 
was to live in such a manner, and told them 
of a Saviour \vho had died for guilt)' men, 
they hooted at him and turned away with 
scorn. After a while, however, getting con- 
fidence in him, they listened patiently to his 
great story. Some of them were saved. 

Mr. Weiser said, as he saw those vener- 



94 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

able patriarchs of the American Indian 
Church sitting, some on benches and some 
on the ground, as living witnesses of the 
power of the Gospel to save, that it was 
one of the greatest comforts of his life that 
he had gone to Shohomokin. 

The visit of Count Zinzendorf was so 
agreeable, and the new ideas about God 
promised to be so useful, that when he turned 
his horse to go farther into the interior, these 
dusky Christians, like those from Ephesus to 
whom St. Paul bade farewell, gathered about 
him and wept, *' because they would see his 
face no more." Charles Vastine. 

When Charles ceased reading, the chairman 
said that if he could do so well in so short a 
time, he would like to have one of his pro- 
ductions upon which he had spent several 
days. He was followed by Grace Murray, 
whose clear enunciation and beautiful voice 
attracted the whole party. Her subject was : 

successes of martin and MRS. MACK AND OF 
DAVHJ AND MRS. BRAINERD. 

The Moravian heroes and heroines were 
bent upon doing their best for the settle- 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 95 

ments in Pennsylvania. Three years after 
Count Zinzenclorf was here Mr. and Mrs. 
Mack and Mr. and Mrs. Brainerd pressed 
through the forests of Pennsylvania to visit 
the missions on the Susquehanna. These 
were, perhaps, the first white Christian women 
who had ever been at Shohomokin. 

Some travelinof Shawnees hailed them 
just after they had arrived, and wanted to 
know what business the white people had to 
come among them. They said : 

" We do not want anybody to come and 
teach us. We want to be left alone. You 
white people are like wild pigeons. Where- 
ever you perch great numbers of you come 
together. Then what becomes of us } " 

The ofentle missionaries disabused their 
minds, and told them they had not come to 
take away their lands, but to tell them about 
another and a better country, to which they 
might go if they would be good and true as 
well as brave. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mack welcomed the Brai- 
nerds, who came later ; all of whom were 
often insulted and lived in great fear of being 
murdered. Jealousies were being stirred 

8 



96 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

and treachery was hatching;" in these savage 
hearts because of the ambitious men who 
were exploring the Susquehanna country 
for gain. But the hunger, fatigue, perse- 
cutions, and sickness to which these good 
missionaries were exposed did not move 
them from their purposes. Tliey counted 
not their Hves dear unto themselves if so they 
might be the instruments of salvation to the 
heathen. Their journals show that they en- 
dured all these things gladly, and regarded 
them as better than the richest luxuries. 

Grace F. Murray. 

A company of ladies gave us a great sur- 
prise at this stage of the lyceum hour b)' 
sendinor an invitation to come to the dininof 
room for refreshments. It did not require a 
long time to accept the invitation, and the 
motion for an intermission of twenty minutes 
was soon put to the house and carried in con- 
siderable disorder. The table talk turned 
upon the blessedness of doing something 
for others and of the wonderful things that 
had happened here, almost unknown to the 
people who walk the streets of Sunbury and 



UP THE SUS(^UEIIANNA. 99 

Northumberland. The toasts in behalf of the 
Moravian heroes and heroines, together with 
those for the future pleasures of the Iroquois 
Club, were drank in cold water and greatly 
enjoyed. Resuming the exercises, Emma 
Bucher read an essay on 

THE FORWARD MOVEMENT UNDER BISHOP CAMER- 
HOFF AND JOSEPH POWELL. 

At the Moravian Synod held in Ouitope- 
hill in i7z|.7 full reports had been made of the 
missions. It was found that something ad- 
ditional must be done if the Gospel was to 
conquer the red man's prejudices and do the 
work expected in other directions. It was 
decided that as many as were determined to 
consecrate themselves to the work must do it 
for their whole life, and that they must con- 
sent to be adopted into the tribe with which 
they labored, and to be known ever afterward 
as a part of the Indian nation. Conrad 
Weiser had been adopted into the Mohawks 
for purposes of peace and good will, and why 
should they not be willing to do so for the 
sake of Jesus ? Some volunteered, and Martin 
Mack was appointed to superintend the mis- 
sion. 



lOO 11' TIIK SUSQUEHANNA. 

When Bishop Camerhoffand Joseph Powell 
came into the mission station in 1748 confer- 
ences were held with the Christian Indians as 
to how they might carry the word of God into 
the interior. Some of the more devoted of 
the Indians agreed to go with them that, by 
telling what the Lord had done for them, they 
might persuade others to accept the Gospel. 
Regular gospel meetings were held twice a 
day — early in the morning and after nightfall. 
Special meetings were held for boys and girls, 
at which they were taught to read the Bible, 
memorize the Catechism, and recite hymns. 
There were also meetings held for widows, 
for old people, for married men and married 
w^omen, and also for young people. The 
Lord's Supper was administered once a 
month. 

It was no uncommon thing to see these 
servants of God croinor about the settlements, 
baptizing children, visiting the aged and sick, 
performing the marriage ceremou)', burying 
the dead, and attending to all the duties 
common to preachers. 

During the autumn of 1748 several \iolent 
storms of wind, hail, and rain visited the 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. lOI 

country, destroying the crops and causing 
oTeat Hoods in tlie creeks and rivers. A 
shock of earthquake was also felt. These 
movements of divine power were used as 
illustrations of what the great God was able 
to do if he desired, and how weak men were 
In their presence. 

As Bishops Von Watteville and Camerhoff, 
and Mack and Zeisberger and others, went 
from one wlorwam to another and from villaoe 
to village along the two great branches of, 
the Susquehanna during the winter months 
many Shawnees, Chickasaws, and Nanti- 
cokes turned from their wickedness and were 
admitted into the Church. These visitations 
continued until 1755. Emma Bucher. 

As Olin Houck had failed to come to time 
with his paper on " Some Remarkable Con- 
versions Among the Indians," the club with 
one consent requested Rev. Mr. Roslyn to 
become the subject of a general quiz by the 
company on that subject. He reluctantly 
consented ; but as he had been lately search- 
Inor amonof the old colonial documents and 
was well up in the history of the long ago 



I02 UP THE SUS()UEIIANNA. 

his answers were quite happ)' and to the 
point. 

A spectator was the first to put a question 
to him, which was, " How can you account for 
the sudden chancre in the Hfe of a drunken 
savage to that of a man of prayer ? " 

Mr. Roslyn repHed : "A simple story, told 
often in love, and demonstrated to be true 
by many strong arguments, and best of all by 
pious lives — this, the story of Jesus as a Sav- 
iour — this alone was the power. Of course 
there had to be an acceptance of the truth.'' 

" Can you give any special instances of con- 
version .^^ " said Miss Allen. 

"Yes. One of the wickedest fellows among 
the Iroquois was the first to break down 
under the new power. His name was 
Tschoop. He had boasted that he would 
kill the first missionary that should speak to 
him on the subject of being good. He often 
sneered at the idea of one man's blood beincr 
powerful enough to wash away another man's 
sins. Yet this was the idea that finall)' con- 
quered him. The little golden wedge of 
truth got an entrance and was driven home 
by the Holy Spirit. Some one was kind 



ur THE SUSQUEHANNA. 103 

enough to write up the story of Tschoop's 
turning from bad to good, and it has been 
translated." 

" Yes," said OHn, " I found that, and have it 
here with me. Will you read it ? " 

Mr. Roslyn reads : " Tschoop said to me, 
' Brothers ! I have been a heathen. I have 
grown old and gray-headed among the 
heathen. I know how heathen think. 1 know 
how they live. Once a man came among us 
and said, " There is a God." We said. " Do you 
think we are so dumb as not to know that } 
Go back where you came from." Another 
man came. He said, "You must not steal. 
You must not get drunk. You must not lie." 
We said, " We know all that. Tell your own 
people to quit such things, for who can lie 
and cheat like your folks .f^" 

" ' One day Henry Ranch came into my hut 
and sat down and talked to me. He said, *' I 
come in the name of the Lord of heaven and 
earth. He sends to let you know that he will 
make you happy and save you from your sins 
and misery." 

'"When he had finished his talk he lay 
clown upon a board and slept. I said, " W hat 



I04 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

kind of a man is this to lie and sleep here? 
He cannot be bad man ! He afraid of no evil 
from us wicked fellows. He put his life in 
our hands. I could kill him in a minute and 
pitch him out in the woods, and who would 
care ? But I could not foriret what he said 
about Jesus. I dreamed about him. I gave 
poor Indian to Jesus.'"" 

Mr. Roslyn continued to say that Tschoop 
became a very useful man. As he went up 
and down the river in his canoe he did not 
forget to tell his friends of his new-found joy. 

"Tell us," said Olin, "something about 
Keposh, King of the Delawares." 

" Keposh was an old man — eighty years 
old. Stretched in his blanket he lay dying. 
Tinctures, roots, and syrups did him no good. 
Many tears were shed when he died. The 
people on the other side of the island sent in 
their regrets, saying, * We wipe the tears from 
your eyes, cleanse your ears, and put your 
aching heart in its proper place.' 

" But it was found that the old man had 
swooned, was Ivine in a faintino- condition, 
but was not dead. In his vision he saw a 
man in shinino- oarments, who said to him, 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. IO5 

' You only have a short while to stay on the 
earth. To be good and true is the way for 
men to live.' 

" The vision made a great impression on 
the old man. He asked for one of the eood 
teachers, who pointed him to the scriptural 
way of faith and baptized him." 

" Are there any other instances ? " said the 
chairman. 

" Yes. I give you one more. An aged and 
decrepit squaw, bent by the drudgery of years, 
lived along the river in great poverty. She was 
blind. She determined to go to Bethlehem to 
see and hear the many good people there, and 
especially the teachers of the Gospel. Some 
of her friends constructed a kind of go-cart 
and actually dragged her the whole distance 
through the wilderness. It took twenty days, 
but the * eood news ' of salvation was an 
ample reward. She believed in Jesus, and 
some days after died in full triumph of a 
good hereafter. 

" Before closing let me say that the men and 
women who first taught these people the way 
of salvation deserve the warmest praise. It 
was only through much suffering and persecu- 



I06 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

tion that they were able to make any impres- 
sion, but they stayed at their post of clut)'." 

The last paper was read by Olive Thorne. 
The subject was 

A CONFH^MATION CLASS OF SOME INDIAN BOYS AND 
GIRLS AT FRIEDENSHUTTEN. 

It was a bright golden time in spring. 
The village of Friedenshiitten — tents of peace 
— never looked more charmino-. The Indian 
tents were clean and tidy, for Friedenshiitten 
was a Christian village, and cleanliness was 
enjoined as next to godliness. It was also 
quite a temperance town. No "fire-water" 
dealers were allowed to take up quarters 
there — a prohibition town, as it were. 

The house of the Moravian Brethren stood 
in the public square, and was a model of plain- 
ness and neatness. The gardens were in 
bloom and the graveyard on the hillside, with 
its romantic surroundings, had in it here and 
there an Indian crirl strollino- amono' the 

o o o 

graves. 

Early that morning the little chapel was 
opened, and the bell rang out merrily and 
clear, calling to worship. Out of the quaint 
little houses and lodges of the villa^'e darted 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. lO/ 

the red folks, one b)' one, who walked orderly 
to the meeting house. It was a special day. 

After one of the missionaries had spoken 
and the congregation had sung some songs in 
the Indian language thirteen Indian boys 
dressed in white came forward as their names 
were called and grouped themselves in a 
circle about the altar. A Negro boy came 
forward, also, which made fourteen. 

As the white-haired bishop looked into 
their faces he asked them some personal 
questions as to whether they understood 
what it was to be Christians, and whether 
they would lead Christian lives. He was 
satisfied with their answers, and baptized them 
in the name of the Holy Trinity, confirmed 
them by laying on of hands, and gave them 
the holy communion. 

The Gospel became quite a power among 
the children, and many interesting stories are 
bound up in their after lives. Many of them 
were anxious to know the stories of the Old 
Testament, and took pleasure in committing 
to memory whole chapters of the Bible. 
They loved the new songs and answered the 
questions of the Catechism. 



I08 UP THE SUS()UEHAXXA. 

One little fellow as he lay dying looked up 
in his mother's face as he heard the chapel 
bell ring- for prayers one evening and said, 
" Take me over to God's house, and let me die 
there." 

When told they could not do that he said, 
"Well, I have Jesus with me here." 

The Moravian annals are full of biograph- 
ical sketches of these Pennsylvania Christian 
Indians, each of whom was called by a Scrip- 
ture name. Some of them became eloquent 
speakers, whose words in the public assemblies 
burned their way into the consciences of their 
fellows and produced lasting good. Others 
were changed from vile and desperate charac- 
ters into kind and loving Christians. Our 
government has tried many methods for 
civilizing the tribes upon our Western frontier 
and for preventing bloodshed. The old Mo- 
ravian idea of educatino- and Christianizine 
them, as is now being done in our schools at 
Carlisle and Hampton, may solve the problem 
in a common sense way. Olive Tiiorne. 

The meetincr continued far bevond the 
time fixed, but the club and the o^uests in- 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. IO9 

sisted on having one more session on wSaturday 
afternoon. As I was appointed to close up 
the investigation tor the present I was asked 
to sketch the boyhood and Hfe of the cele- 
brated chief " Logan," to which I consented. 



CtiiUisquaque Creek, ( j^^jj^^ 

IVortliuniberland County, Pa., i 

AS the little steamboat Louie, from Sun- 
bury, came brushing up to the wharf at 
noon to-day It had for passengers all of my 
jubilant students In Indian history, together 
with their parents. As I had prepared my- 
self to speak to the young on " Logan " I 
concluded not to change the simplicity of the 
story on account of the older people, but to 
tell It as I knew It. 

THE CAREER OF LOGAN. 

When the corn was yet In the milk, and be- 
fore the golden-rod, the aster, and the gentian 
had fringed the autumn banks of the " Crooked 
River," In a hunter's lodge hard by the Blue 
Mountain spurs lay a strange yet Interesting 
Indian papoose. 

He was wrapped In the skin of a wolf, and 
was lying In a rude hammock made of wild 
grapevines Inlaid with moss. 

The boy had no name ; he had no clothes ; 
he couldn't tell where he had come from, 

I ID 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. Ill 

nor yet what he was in such a queer w^orld 
for. And yet all the boys and girls who 
looked upon him took a fancy to him and 
wanted to nurse him and carry him about. 

The sky was overcast with dark, blustering 
clouds that day, and the smoke of the wig- 
wam made him sneeze and cry. 

When Shikellimy, the father, came back 
from his long hunt in the Alleghanies, he 
was greatly surprised and filled with laughter 
to find this, a second son, born in his home. 
The boy was as happy, too, as the singing 
birds which had whispered to the father the 
strange news that he had better strike home- 
ward. 

The innocent little stranger w^as called 
nothing but " Booboo " for many a passing 
moon. At length, accordincr to the custom, 
when seven years of age he was called Logan. 
It was impossible, however, for him to be 
allowed to live in such a pretty world, and to 
eat so many good things, and to have such 
an easy time, without being initiated into its 
mysteries. 

It happened, therefore, in the course of his 
boyhood that for several days he was not al- 



112 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

lowed to eat anything but a few sweet roots, 
which made him very weak and sick. He was 
not permitted to leave the tent ; and as for 
climbinfjf the hills or roaminor about the 
streams, that was not once thought of 

One night, after his confinement and fasting, 
he was taken out into the wild, black forest 
and left alone. There wasn't a star shinincr 
in the sky. The thunders shook the very hills, 
and the lightnings flashed and played around 
the trees until this boy, not yet past his thir- 
teenth year, stood excited and alarmed. Wild 
and weird were the hours of that midni^rht. 
Bewildered and tired, Looan crawled into a 
hollow tree and slept. 

In his vision the Great Manitou or Spirit 
appeared to him, who seemed to say : " You 
shall be neither a great hunter nor a doctor, 
nor yet a prophet, but a warrior and an 
orator." 

When he awoke the sun was shining in 
among the trees. As he turned himself about 
he saw a fawn standing by a beautiful spring, 
drinking. One shot from his trusty little 
oun brouoht down his eame. Coverinor it 
over carefully with, leaves he followed a stream, 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. II3 

which happily led out into the river, and by 
which means he reached his father's tent. 

As this was the first deer he had ever shot 
much account was made of it, and a feast was 
had that night, to which all the boys and 
eirls in the villaire were invited. 

As Logan increased in years, and showed 
so many marks of manliness, his father be- 
came much attached to him. Logan could 
never oret done talking about his visit to the 
great council fires at Onondaga (now Syra- 
cuse). It was a long and wearisome journey, 
but one filled with incident and adventure. 
Loean was delitrhted with what he saw and 
heard. 

What most attracted his attention was the 
great council house. It was built of bark, 
and was fitted up nicely for the chiefs of the 
various tribes and the white commissioners 
who came from a distance to talk too^ether 
about things which concerned everybod)'. 

Inside of this great square bark council 
house, upon either side, and facing each 
other, benches were arranged. Upon one set 
of benches sat the Indian dio-nitaries, all 
painted and feathered according to the latest 



114 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

fashion. Upon the other benches sat the 
white men. In the center, seated upon the 
floor, was the president of the council. 

All were smoking pipes of tobacco. When 
one was speaking all the others would remain 
quiet, except when anything was said that 
pleased them. Then all the red men would 
sing out, "Nee! Nee!" — meaning Yes! 
Yes ! 

At the end of every speech the)' would 
sinor out attain, " Hoho ! Hoho !" — That's all ! 

The presents of blankets, lead, powder, etc., 
which the white men brouoht with them, 
were all equally divided. i\t noon of each day 
two big, burly Indians would come stalking 
into the council house, carrying upon their 
shoulders, across a pole, a huge kettle of 
venison or bear meat, and putting it down in 
the center of the room would retire, which 
was a signal for every man to help himself 

Young Logan was still in his teens, and 
had not yet started out into the world to 
make his own living. One day an old squaw 
came into Shikellimy's lodge, bringing with 
her some corn meal mixed as if ready for 
baking into bread. A little girl by her side 



UP THE SUSQUEHAXXA. II5 

carried an armful of wood which she had 
gathered. The present was for Logan, an 
engagement present. The girl was his future 
bride ; at least so the mother said. 

When Loofans mother returned with a 
present of belts and cloth and blankets, 
which she afterward did, that was a sure sign 
that the Indian boy was pleased with his lady- 
love, and intended to woo and marry her. 

In the spring of 1753 he and his bride 
took up their residence at the mouth of 
Chillisquaque (frozen duck) Creek. Here his 
love of nature began to develop itself Here 
was a grand opening for the play of his im- 
aginative and really brilliant mind. 

Especially was he interested in the heavens. 
Often while ranging the mountains in search 
of wild game, or paddling his canoe in the 
solitary waters waked only by the splashing 
of his oar or the voice of some " bird of pas- 
sage," would he trace in the sky the signs 
and wonders which even his wise forefathers 
had ceased to unravel. 

Without books or teachers or telescope, how 
dim and uncertain must have been his knowl- 
edge of the" bright procession " in the heavens 



Il6 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

marchlnor In silence toward the land of the 
Dakotas! To him the sun was a ball of fire, 
shining out in mighty power — to-day making 
mellow the ground and ripening the maize, 
to-morrow angry at the people and hiding 
himself behind the blackened clouds. 

At night the moon, as a " mailed maiden," 
rode the circle of the blue, sheddino^ forth 
most golden and happy beams ; and then 
shooting stars darted out into the darkness, 
as if they were weary with their work and 
wanted rest. The comets with their fiery 
tails swept through the awful spaces — the 
beautiful Aurora, the Great Dipper, the Pole 
Star, splendid Jupiter, and red Mars, and the 
Milky Way — all, all charmed and amazed this 
thinker of the forest and wrapped his life in 
mysteries great. 

Logan's stay at Tilly Squachne (Chillisqua- 
que) was not of long duration. A man of the 
forest, he wished to get beyond the very edge 
of civilization. Yet he was ever the white 
man's friend, and, like his good old father, a 
keeper of the peace. 

But westward he turned his steps. He 
moved to Raccoon Valley, at the foot of the 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 11/ 

Tuscarora Mountains, about the year 1765, 
and three years later pitched his tent at a 
spring, now called Logan's Spring, in Mifflin 
County, Pa. 

Loean was a grreat friend of children. 
Wouldn't you have been scared, if you had 
been living along the quiet Juniata at that 
time, to have seen a great, tall Indian, over 
six feet, with long black hair and keen black 
eyes, come limping into your father's cabin, 
and, taking up your little sister, ask your 
mamma if he mieht take her off into the 
mountains to his own hut .^ It seems to me 
you would have fought against it with all 
your might. 

But Logan did that very thing. He asked 
one of the white women if her little girl 
might go and spend some time with him in 
his cabin, and, strangely enough, the mother 
consented. She well knew what kind of a 
heart was beating under that buckskin vest 
of Looran. That evenino- in came the noble 
Indian, carrying upon his back the little girl, 
as happy as she could be, with a brand-new 
pair of moccasins upon her feet, beautifully 
beaded and made by Logan's own hands. 



ri8 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Logan's sense of right and truth and justice 
was very strongly developed. It showed it- 
self upon many occasions. At the breaking 
out of the Revolutionary War he emigrated 
from the region of "blue Juniata" into the 
wilds of Ohio. He located at the mouth of 
Beaver Creek, and commenced farming upon 
a small scale. Here, as in the East, he ac- 
commodated himself to the changing circum- 
stances of his race. He also adopted more 
closely than ever the customs and habits of 
the whites. 

In the spring of 1774 some robberies and 
a murder were committed in the neighbor- 
hood of Logan's camp. 

The Indians were blamed for the deed, 
but with no good proofs. Colonel Cresap 
and one Greathouse determined to avenge 
themselves of the wrong. Without an)- 
definite knowledge as to who were the guilty 
parties these men went down the Kanawha, 
fell upon the Indian settlement, and murdered 
in cold blood and indiscriminately all whom 
they met. Among the number was the 
family of Logan — his mother and sister and 
brother. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. II9 

The proud and revengeful spirit of Logan 
was stirred to its very depths. He reasoned 
with himself: "Why does the white man 
treat me so } What evil have I done him } 
Haven't I always been his true friend } 
Wasn't my father, too, the white man's friend ? 
Didn't I learn from him that I must be true 
to them }'' 

The wicked blood beQ^an to run through 
his veins. " Revenore ! reveni^e ! " was the 
cry. Logan succeeded in gathering a large 
force of his countrymen, and, joining with 
Cornstalk, another celebrated warrior, they 
swept through the white settlement with fire 
and scalping knife. 

The people of the whole province were 
alarmed and aroused. General Lewis, join- 
ing Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, raised a 
force of soldiers numberincr more than two 
regiments. Large bands of Shawnees, Dela- 
wares, Cayugas, and Mingoes met the militia 
at Point Pleasant, \'a. 

From sunrise to sunset the battle went 
forward. A terrible clay was that loth of 
October, 1774. Logan was there at the front 
of liis braves urging them onward. Many 



I20 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

brave men fell upon that field. The Indians 
were defeated, and during the night withdrew 
from the scene of action. 

The remnant rallied soon after in the vicin- 
ity of Logan's cabin, when a treaty of peace 
was entered upon by both parties. But Lo- 
gan refused to be present, nor could any words 
prevail with him. Stung to the heart with 
the vile deed which had taken from him 
every one of his relations, he could not brook 
the idea of a compromise. When the messen- 
ger came from Governor Dunmore's camp to 
escort him to the place where the treaty was 
sioned Loo-an led him into the woods and 
told him the sad story of his life and the in- 
human butchery of his famil)'. 

This was also the occasion of his great 
speech, which was afterward spoken of so 
favorably by Thomas Jefferson. He pro- 
nounced it one of the finest pieces of elo- 
quence of any language. It makes a tiptop 
speech for a boy at school. He said : " I ap- 
peal to any white man to say if he entered 
Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not 
meat ; if ever he came cold and naked, and he 
clothed him not. During the course of the 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 121 

last long and bloody war Logan remained in 
his cabin idle, an advocate of peace. 

" Such was my love for the whites that my 
countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, 
* Logan is the friend of the white man.' I 
had even thought to have lived with you, but 
for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, 
the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, 
murdered all the relations of Logan, not 
sparing even my women and children. 

" There runs not a drop of my blood in the 
veins of any living creature. This called on 
me for revenge. I have sought it. I have 
killed many. I have glutted my vengeance. 
For my country I rejoice at the beams of 
peace. But do not harbor a thought that 
mine is a joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. 
He will not turn on his heel to save his life. 
Who is there to mourn for Loo^an } Not 
one." 

Logan afterward fell into bad habits, among 
others that of drunkenness. He lost his in- 
terest in life. He counted nothing a pleasure. 
He continued to brood over his troubles day 
after day. Strong drink ruined him at last, 
even as it has ruined thousands of others. 



122 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

An old Mingo chief, called Good Hunter, 
and a well-known name in the annals of Ohio, 
related to a crentleman the story of Logan's 
death. He said : " He was on a journe)' 
from his home to Detroit, Mich. At the 
time of his death he was sitting, with his 
blanket over his head, before a camp fire, his 
elbows resting on his knees, when an Indian, 
who had taken some offense, stole behind 
him and buried his tomahawk in his brain." 



Moutli of John Perm's Creek, ^ 

Snyder County, Pa., ^ June. 

ARE you familiar with the story of Barbara 
Leininger and Marie Le Roy, two Ger- 
man girls who were captured near this place 
by a band of Indians ? It is preserved in the 
Pennsylvania archives from a pamphlet writ- 
ten in German by themselves after liberation. 
It is the old story of a sudden attack upon 
a helpless settlement in 1755, when the State 
was overrun by marauders on account of the 
defeat of Braddock in the west. This Penn s 
Creek settlement consisted of twenty-five or 
thirty persons, most of whom were brutally 
killed. The two girls were taken prisoners. 
Pioneer life was rugged enough of itself, but 
to be driven into the deep forests, exposed to 
all kinds of weather, to eat acorns and roots, 
to cut down trees, build huts, tan leather, and 
do all manner of drudgery was unbearable. 
There was one compensation about it, how- 
ever ; it gave them strength and power of 
endurance when they came to make good 

their escape. Their bondage lasted more 

123 



124 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

than three years. They were taken to Kit- 
tanning in Armstrong County, by way of 
Chinclacamoose (Clearfield) and Punxsu- 
tawney. During their stay they witnessed 
the most inhuman treatment of other pris- 
oners, who were roasted alive, had melted 
lead poured down their throats, and their 
bodies mutilated by cutting off one member 
after another. Their narrative of escape 
through feigned sickness, quitting the trail of 
the forests, creeping along the streams with- 
out a compass or guide, getting to Fort 
Duquesne (Pittsburg), thence to Fort Bed- 
ford and Harris's Ferry (Harrisburg), and 
finally to Lancaster, is full of stirring adven- 
ture, fatigue, and suffering. 

The old idea of the " Academy " as a school 
for boys and girls, once so popular in this part 
of the State, has faded entirely out of existence. 
The principals, as they were called, were keen- 
witted, social, well-equipped men, and had a 
vast deal of common sense. The Randolphs, 
the Kirkpatricks, the McClunes, and the Pol- 
locks were strong men in every way. The 
courses of study had backbone. As much 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 12/ 

might be said of the discipline of the school- 
room. Lewisburo^, Miftiinburo-, Milton, Wil- 
liamsport, Danville, Sunbury, and Northum- 
berland all had flourishing schools of this 
character, and a large percentage of the phy- 
sicians, lawyers, preachers, and editors who 
were educated here became eminent in their 
professions. 

It is difficult to say whether the high 
school methods of to-day are any improve- 
ment either upon the curricula or the drill of 
the gymnasia of the olden times. 

The Susquehanna valley is proud of her 
institutions of the higher grade, as Bucknell 
University, with its group of magnificent 
buildinors overlookino- the town of Lewisbure ; 
or Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston ; the 
State Normals, at Lock Haven, Bloomsbure, 
Pa., and Oneonta, in New York ; or Dickinson 
Seminary, at Williamsport ; but for keen, 
incisive, wholesome drilling in the earlier 
mathematics and the lanijuaQ^es, the old 
academy was always at a premium. 

What can be said of the wealthy men and 

women of the Susquehanna valley ? Of a 
10 



128 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

score or more whose names and faces come 
within the reach of memory, but two or three 
may be mentioned who have projected great 
benevolent schemes, built great orphanages or 
hospitals, or endowed great institutions of 
learning. Philanthropic movements of this 
character seem to have been almost wholly 
neglected. Bequeathing fortunes to sons is 
poor business. The hoarded treasures of 
years are soon squandered in a vain attempt 
at display, some wild business speculations, 
or gambling in stocks or the lottery. 

The Jacob Tome Scientific Building at 
Dickinson College, Carlisle, and the Thomas 
Beaver Memorial Library and Young Men's 
Christian Association Building at Danville, 
are notable and honorable exceptions. 

I had a dream last nii^ht. It must have 
come about because I passed in the early 
evening a quaint old red house standing at 
the forks of the road where I spent many 
happy childhood hours. 

I saw in my dream, sure enough, the old 
house with its singular gables, its long, latticed 
porches, its great back-log crackling upon the 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 1 29 

hearth with the chestnuts roasting in the 
ashes, the barn with its straw stacks, the 
brook, the violets blooming in the meadow, 
the ford at the creek, the sunrise upon the 
hills, the cows grazing along the ridge, the 
freshly plowed fields, the first robin of 
spring whilst yet the snowdrifts lingered in 
the fence corners, the partridges in the lane, 
the clanging crows, cherries ripe, the apple 
blossoms, the great loads of new-mown hay, 
the bright patches of buckwheat, the tasseled 
corn, and the faded leaves of autumn. I was 
again at the sheep-washing, and heard the 
barking dogs upon the banks of the stream, 
the bleat of the lambs, and the song of the 
wheat harvest. I was with the nutting party 
down in the hickory bottom beyond the eight- 
cornered schoolhouse, or broucrht the o^rist 
from the old-fashioned mill. I was present 
when the evening lamp was lighted, saw the 
old wheel with the curious threads and one 
who sang the merry and never-to-be-forgotten 
song, and when the old clock standing on the 
stairs struck its hour of ten there was a good- 
night kiss and a sleep of innocence. That 
was the heyday of life ! 



130 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Do you know a country boy's ideal of 
birds? It's a trio complete in itself — the kill- 
deer plover, the bobolink, and the humming 
bird. The first is so fine and large, so restless 
and noisy, always crying in two syllables, fol- 
lowing the plow, and making himself gener- 
ally familiar on the farm. His beautitul black 
eyes, his black bill and bronze legs, are alto- 
gether attractive. To find a nest in the o-rass 
with four drab-colored eoo-s blotched with 
brown is regarded as great luck. 

The humming bird is a delight also, if for 
nothing else, because of its size and habits, 
beincr in direct contrast with the killdeer. 
Boys are fond of contrasts. The plumage is 
so gay as it glitters in the sunlight ; the long, 
slender bill dips into every flower; they show 
such skill in building their nests, coating them 
with lichens and lining with plant-down, that 
a farmer's lad is full of admiration for them. 

As for the bobolink, his attractions are 
many. There is the hearty, full-rounded song 
at any hour of the day ; his love for a mate ; 
his migratory instincts, and when full grown, 
fat and juicy, the relish at the dinner table. 



UP THE SITSQUEIIANNA. 131 

Under the field olass to-day he is the same 
brioht, joyous thing as in other days. He 
still loves the meadows, runs the whole eamut 
of song, " even picks up a worm from the mud 
with elegance," and moves southward in the 
night when the days begin to shorten. 

My quick-witted and genial friend Mr. 
F , with whom I have made so many ex- 
cursions upon the river by night and by day, 
called my attention this evening to a species 
of niiTht bird with which I was not familiar. 
It was the night heron. We could not dis- 
tinoruish him well enough to describe him 
properly on account of the glare of our pitch 
pine torches, but his long legs, long bill, and 
long neck indicated to what family he be- 
longed. He is one of the " waders," and puts 
in all his best work when the other birds are 
not about. When we returned home we 
searched for his peculiarities in my friend's 
library among the ornithologists. We found 
him to be a great gormandizer, sleeping all 
day and swooping down upon his unsuspect- 
ing prey in the darkness. His red eyes and 
lono- leors fit him admirablv for his work. He 



132 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

takes care of number one. One author said 
he found one of these fellows who had 
swallowed a sucker which was too long for 
his throat anci stuck out several inches. He 
endured his uncomfortable guest until the 
gastric juice of the stomach had actually eaten 
up all the fleshy parts of the flsh. These 
" drowsy waders," it Is said, breed In midsum- 
mer and stay in large companies, there being 
sometimes fifty or a hundred nests together 
in the hl^h trees of some crreat wood. 

-^ 

The West Branch of the Susquehanna, 
known to the Six Nations by the name Ouen- 
Ischa-chack-ki, the stream with long reaches, 
can rightfully boast of many thrifty towns and 
villages and an intellectual and highly pros- 
perous people. 

Lewisburg has a history running back to 
1 785, Is located at the edge of a rich agricul- 
tural region, is the seat of a university, has a 
population of 3,500, chiefly Americans, a num- 
ber of elegant churches, but few marked pros- 
perous industries. 

Milton has always been Lewlsburg's rival 
in a business way, doubling Its population 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 1 33 

every ten years, and from Its very beginning 
has evinced remarkable business tact and 
orowth. 

Watsontown, Dewart, Muncy, and Mont- 
gomery are all of substantial growth and 
worthy of special mention. 

Williamsport, with a population of 30,000, 
has surpassed all of her competitors in wealth 
and thrift. It is the center of great lumbering 
interests of the upper Susquehanna, has ele- 
gant residences, schools, and churches, to- 
gether with many varied and constantly 
developing industries. 

Jersey Shore la)\s claim to considerable 
distinction as a borough, and Lock Haven, 
with 8,000 souls, is largely supported by the 
trade in lumber, having special railroad facili- 
ties, and steadily advances in all lines of com- 
mercial enterprise. 

To the north lie Renovo, W^estport, Keat- 
ing, Karthaus, and Shawville ; then the sub- 
stantially built, thrifty town of Clearfield, with 
a population of 2,500, and beyond it Curwens- 
ville, Lumber City, Burnside, and then the 
source of the river In the wilds of Cambria 
County. 



Headwaters of tlie West Branch, } 

Cambria County, Pa., ^ June. 

IT is quite fashionable in this wooded region 
to fix the eye if not the heart upon Peneus 
— the river god. A freshet out of the clouds 
is a great benediction in Clearfield and Cam- 
bria Counties. When the lumbermen have 
drao-ored their loi^s to the streams and con- 
structed their rafts to float them to the mar- 
kets the weather is a ver\' important item. 
Last week we were favored with a long-con- 
tinued rain, and the men from the camps are 
all astir. This rise in the river has given 
occasion to some gentlemen of m)' acquaint- 
ance to accept a banter made them some 
time ago by their sweethearts to accompany 
them down the river on a raft. Accordingly 
four of these immense rafts were lashed 
together side by side, two extra cabins were 
built and furnished, the cupboards were well 
supplied — no liquors- — and the day of depar- 
ture fixed. I was honored as an invited 
guest. 

The first day out laughter, wit, neighbor- 

134 




IN THE HEART OF THE ALLEGHANIES. 



■ UP THE SUSQUEIIAXNA. 1 37 

hood jokes, repartee, and songs made up the 
hours. The second day out a violent wind 
storm swept in upon us, followed by rain. 
The lightnings seemed to quit the upper 
skies and to burn their hery, zigzag paths 
close above our heads. The thunders crashed 
and rolled alone the lowering clouds ; the 
mountaineers at the ereat oars lost their 
temper and used big w^ords ; the cabins were 
torn from their moorings and upset, and out 
of the midst of the storm the drenched and 
frightened orirls cried out, " The romance is 
all out of this thine! How can we eet back 
home ?" It was indeed their Water-loo. 

But, as always, " after clouds, sunshine," so 
with the clearing up of the heavens there came 
the ever-varying and superb scenery along the 
banks of the river. The Kodak prints, the char- 
coal sketches, the afternoon romps, the bugle 
calls to meals and to bed, the tie-up stoppages 
at the villages, together with the fellowship of 
the hours, made us all forget our troubles, and 
time brought us to our desired haven. 

The more one knows about trout fishing 
the quicker he is to say that it is a science 



138 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

known only to the few. Not being a scientific 
expert, I made but few boasts as I joined a 
company of anglers of the Izaak Walton 
school when we turned our horses' heads 
toward an old lumberman's camp in the heart 
of the Alleghanies. 

The wag of the part)', whose jokes were 
never stale, but always told in two parts, with 
a place to laugh at either end, suggested pub- 
licly that I should become his silent partner, 
as he never failed to bring in a basketful of 
the speckled beauties. He did throw a ready 
line as he waded with his great boots the 
mountain stream or anchored in the lake 
near by ; but he soon found that it was " nip 
and tuck " with his competitor in the manage- 
ment of the "fly," so that his jokes that even- 
in o^ about the success of the ei*eenhorn had a 

double-back-handed two-edoed action — a kind 

<-> 

of a boomeranor, as it were. 

The rough-and-tumble experiences of the 
jaunt were much enjoyed. Can I ever forget 
those sturdy pines, mutely waiting for the adze 
and saw of the eastern shipyards ? the name- 
less varieties of mosses and creeping vines? 
the old pine table in the hut upon which we 



UP THE SUS(^UEHANNA. I41 

slept ? the bill of fare each day ? or the re- 
marks of the black cook ? Then there were 
those grotesque shadows made by the rocks, 
the midnight camp fires and the exaggerated 
stories of the bear hunt, the lone, shrill cry 
of the whip-poor-will, and the crescent moon 
overhead. The whole made up a weird com- 
bination night and day for the uninitiated 
stranger. 

I confess to crreat admiration for Nature in 
her wildest and most picturesque moods. But 
Nature is a coy maiden. She has for me no 
hearty responses. Even the ivy, the laurel, 
and some species of the wild columbine are 
poisonous to the flesh. It is evidently a case 
of misplaced affection ; but tired nerves, slug- 
gish veins, and overtaxed brain get a true in- 
vigoration in the deep, dark forests. And 
then, too, it tightens one's grip on the things 
of to-morrow. 

As my host Captain Moran and I sat at 
his cabin door waiting for his good wife to 
call to breakfast I recalled Mr. Audubon's 
story of the great "pigeon roost" in Ken- 
tuck)'. I mentioned that in their flight the 



142 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

sky was litCx^ally filled with pi^^eons, so that 
the sun seemed to be eclipsed , that in less 
than a half hour he counted almost two hun- 
dred distinct flocks, and that when they came 
driving down upon the roost in the mountains 
the noise made by them was like a gale at sea 
when the wind creaks through the rigging of 
the ship ; that solid masses of these birds 
covered the rocks, the trees, and the ground ; 
but that, strange to say, by sunrise they had 
all disappeared. 

I supposed the captain would appear some- 
what incredulous. But whether he thought I 
was stretching the truth, or what, I could not 
say ; but he set about telling a pigeon story 
that far eclipsed anything that Mr. Audubon 
ever heard or dreamed of It should have 
occurred here in the fastnesses of the Alle- 
ghanies. He saw, indeed, the tens of thou- 
sands of millions of pigeons and heard the 
awful clatter, and succeeded, even though a boy, 
in entrapping large numbers. I did not wish 
to contradict his statements, but I became 
the incredulous party and freely gave him the 
palm. He closed by saying that in late years 
pigeons do not appear in such immense flocks. 



Ur THE SUS()UEIIANNA. I43 

How do the people in the Alleghany Moun- 
tauis live? Well! Ask how the people live 
in any other part of Pennsylvania. If you 
wish to see intellectual vigor, philanthropic 
movements, and a high-toned and wholesome 
type of piety you can find it in these up-river 
mountain towns. Careful attention is given 
to architecture and the construction of build- 
ino-s. The houses of the rich and well-to-do 
people are supplied with the best of current 
literature, and many of them are elegant in 
their appointments. Politicians of the better 
class do not aspire in vain to preferment and 
fill the first offices in the State and nation. 
Alone the ridoes and in the trouo-h of the 
mountains there is the average of poverty and 
lack of intelligence ; but *' moonshiners " do not 
abound, and the squalor and ignorance of the 
South alonor the Blue Mountains and the 
Alleghany ranges are unknown. The itiner- 
ant preachers with saddlebags full of reli- 
gious literature threaded these wilds and 
became prominent factors in shaping the 
opinions and lives of the earh' settlers. The 

Sunday school was planted and the Gospel 
11 



144 ^'P THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

preached in the cabins and at the himber 
camps. The " tears of the sowers " and the 
"songs of the reapers" mingle truly together in 
the good sense and piety of the present day. 
The amount of money invested in school 
property ranges with the more favorably 
located counties of Northampton, Lycoming, 
and Dauphin ; and the school population 
averages very high. New energy has been 
infused within a few years by opening the 
rich bituminous coal mines and their relation 
to the steamships plying on all waters. 

The West Branch of the Susquehanna 
finds its sources in these mountains princi- 
pally through the great springs and mountain 
rivulets. How insignificant often are begin- 
nings ! I came across a barn to-dav so con- 
structed that the rain falling upon one side 
of the roof runs into a brook, which in turn 
tlows into the Susc[uehanna, and thence on- 
ward to the Atlantic Ocean. The rain falling 
upon the opposite side of the roof enters a 
stream and gets into the Alleghany River, 
thence to the Ohio, and so on to the Gulf of 
Mexico. A little thincr chano^es the entire 



UP TPIE SUSQUEHANNA. 145 

channel of one's thoughts, desires, and pur- 
poses, gives an ill-advised trend to our lives, 
or, upon the other hand, wakens into vitality 
the holiest instincts and teaches us that there 
are thought and heart movements which can- 
not be measured by the escape of the years. 



Wapwallopen, ^ June. 

Luzerne County, Pa., \ 

MOUNTAIN building! Whether you 
beHeve that the mountains were pro- 
duced by a series of violent concussions and 
upheavals of the globe, or the later theory, 
that they are caused by the shrinking of the 
surface consequent upon the cooling processes 
of melted substances in the interior, in either 
case you are driven to the conclusion that the 
acts of the Creator are not malevolent. " Mon- 
tour Ridge," " Bald Top," and the " Kittatinny 
Chain " of mountains, in the vicinity of the 
"iron city" of Danville, bring forcibly to mind 
Dr. Edward Hitchcock's thouoht, that the 
spirit of a discriminating benevolence in the 
ages past brought the metallic ores in seams, 
pockets, and veins near to the surface, rather 
than that in their melted state they should 
have concentrated near the center of the earth, 
as they naturally would, being much heavier 
than ordinary rock material. Not upon the 
surface, it is true, but within ready reach, so 

as to develop man's ingenuity and strength 
146 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 149 

and give the world the benefit of this hidden 
wealth by virtue of his own right arm. 

All these hills about Danville are full of 
iron, the most serviceable of all metals to 
mankind ; and it is found in all the older and 
newer rocks. It is estimated that 800,000 
tons of it, and of the finest quality, are lying 
within easy reach of the miner's pick. The 
sturdy iron and steel foundries of the city are 
its source of wealth. Having but few other 
industries, it is subject to the fluctuations of 
the iron market, with the touch of a delightful 
prosperity upon it betimes, and then its oppo- 
site ; but its citizens may congratulate them- 
selves upon their power to enrich other com- 
munities and render available all other modes 
of commercial life. 

Amonor other remarkable blunders com- 
mitted by Charles II while upon the English 
throne was that of granting a patent of the 
lands lying along the Wyoming valley to two 
separate parties. He included it in the char- 
ter of William Penn, and also in the charter 
of a Connecticut colony. In i 753-1 762 inclu- 
sive, companies of Connecticut people settled 



150 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

In the valley. At Fort Stanwix (Rome, 
N. Y.) In I 768 a deed was given by the Six 
Nations to the English, by which the former 
surrendered all privileges in lands and water 
courses alonor the North Branch of the Sus- 
quehanna. In 1769 Mr. Penn's people began 
looking up their rights, a large company com- 
ing into the valley. These conflicting interests 
soon began to breed serious troubles. There 
were numerous ejectments, lawsuits, and 
skirmishes by the militia, involving consider- 
able bloodshed. It was not until the closing 
year of the century that the claims of the 
Pennsylvania people were substantiated, 
which ended what is known as the " Penn- 
amite and Yankee War" of the Susque- 
hanna region. 

Traditions of more or less moment are 
associated with all of these river towns. The 
fliorht of the backwoodsmen down throuq-h 
the Wyoming and the Lycoming valleys to 
Fort Augusta at Sunbury, and on, Indeed, to 
the capital of the State, although not a 
memory to any person now living, is a well- 
known occurrence, as has been indicated by 



Ur THE SUSQUEHANNA. 15T 

several local historians. It was in the dark 
hours of the Revolutionary struggle, the 
spring of 1778. The British army, flushed 
with its victories in Delaware and Virginia, 
had transferred the seat of war to Pennsyl- 
vania. The men of the Susquehanna region 
had enlisted in such numbers as to leave the 
settlements in a defenseless condition. In 
spite of Lord Chatham's protest in Parlia- 
ment about arming the merciless red men and 
sendine them out ao^ainst the colonists as 
human bloodhounds, these murderous savages 
were hired for a specific work. The sacking 
and burnine of the villages went forward at 
such a rate as to throw^ consternation into 
every neighborhood. The people fled before 
the face of such foes. Down the river in all 
manner of boats, rafts, and other craft they 
fled pellmell. One writer in describing the 
scene says : " Such a sight I never had in my 
life. Boats, canoes, hog-troughs, rafts hastily 
made of dry sticks, every sort of floating 
article had been put into requisition and were 
crowded with w^omen and children and plun- 
der. The men came down in single file on 
each side of the river to iruard the movement." 



152 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

The tragedy at Wyoming has been de- 
picted by many graphic pens. It was the 
crisal period of the American Revolution. 
The noble wives of those patriots who were 
In the army had just harvested their grain 
and were getting ready for a rigid winter. 
The British forces had abandoned their 
strong position in and about Philadelphia, 
and were being hotly pursued by the Ameri- 
can troops. Congress had been informed 
secretly that a large number of Indians from 
about Niagara had joined the enemy and had 
been sent out to burn and destroy root and 
branch the peaceful settlements in central New 
York and central Pennsylvania. Alarmed at 
this flank movement the patriot army sent 
back some battalions to defend their homes. 
A delegation of Seneca Indians went to Phil- 
adelphia, where Congress was in session, os- 
tensibly to intercede between the parties, 
form a treaty, and bury the hatchet ; but 
really to deceive the people and give their 
allies time enough to carry out their brutal 
purposes. 
, On June 29, 1778, the first blow was struck 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. I 53 

which reduced one of the forts. PubHc meet- 
ings were held and the people were encouraged 
to make a brave fight. Forty Fort, the place 
of the hnal rally, soon succumbed. Then 
commenced that series of butcheries which 
makes the blood run cold in the veins after 
a hundred years have passed. You are re- 
minded of that event in the Sepoy rebellion 
in India, when at Cawnpore Nana Sahib 
hacked in pieces the brave men and beautiful 
women who were innocent of any action 
against the native kings. Here at Wyoming 
the prisoners were grouped around a big 
stone and tortured in every brutal manner. 
One old squaw boasted that she had scalped 
fourteen whites. The following day was one 
of plunder and burning. 

But brave deeds can never die — never be 
forgotten ! The courage of one's convictions 
In hours of danger crowns a life with unfading 
laurels and makes it akin to the divine. 
Every great uplift of humanity is the product 
of personal suffering. The annals of all brave 
and good people are written in sorrow, self- 
denial, tears, and blood. Our own New World, 
full of the brightest and most capable things, 



154 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

is but the outLrrowth of this idea. Our salva- 
tion eveu boasts of vicarious suffering by the 
Man who came out of Juclea. 

The beautiful inscription upon the monu- 
ment erected to the memory of these Wyo- 
ming heroes and heroines is worthy of eternal 
remembrance. It reads thus: 

" Near this spot was fought on the after- 
noon of Friday, July 3, 1778, the 'Battle of 
Wyoming,' in which a small band of patriot 
Americans, chiefly undisciplined, youthful, and 
aged, spared by inefficiency from the ranks of 
the Republic, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler 
and Colonel Nathan Dennison, wnth a courage 
that deserved success, boldly met and bravely 
foueht a combined British and Indian force 
of thrice their number. Numerical superiority 
alone gave the invader success and spread 
havoc, desolation and ruin marking his 
bloody and savage footsteps through the 
valley. This monument, commemorative of 
these events and of the actors, has been 
erected over the bones of the slain by their 
descendants and others who gratefully ap- 
preciate the services and sacrifices of their 
patriotic ancestors." 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 1 57 

A corps of engineers, under the direction 
of the State of Pennsylvania, in 1827, with 
one Charles C. Treziyulny as chief, measured 
the Susquehanna from the New York State 
line to the Maryland State line, and found 
it to be a distance of two hundred and seventy- 
three miles. The exact leno-th of the river is 
then four hundred miles. Rising in Otsego 
Lake, New York, it traverses the counties of 
Otsego, Broome, and Tioga in that State ; 
enters Pennsylvania in Bradford County, 
passes through the counties of Wyoming, 
Luzerne, Columbia, and Montour; between 
Northumberland and Snyder, and Dauphin 
and Cumberland ; between Lancaster and 
York ; thence into the Chesapeake in Mary- 
land between Cecil and Harford Counties. 
It receives the Chenango, Chemung, West 
Branch, and Juniata Rivers, as well as many 
minor streams — as Cayuga, Fishing Creek, 
Penn's Creek, Conodoguinet, Yellow Breeches, 
Conewago, and Codorus — in its passage to the ' 
sea. Its banks are graced with many delight- 
ful towns and cities, chief among which should 
be mentioned Great Bend, Binghamton, and 



158 UP THE SUSQUKIIANNA. 

Owego, in New York ; Athens, Towanda, 
Tunkhannock, Pittston, Wilkesbarre, Ber- 
wick, Bloomsburg, Danville, Northumber- 
land, Sunbury, Harrisburg, Columbia, and 
Marietta, in Pennsylvania ; and Port Deposit 
and Havre de Grace in Maryland. Along 
the West Branch are Clearfield, Lock Haven, 
Williamsport, Milton, and Lewisburg. 



Luzerne County, Pa., ^ ^u"^- 

IT is impossible to catch full-fiedc^ed ideas 
of the glories of this far-famed Wyoming 
Valley from the windows of a palace car. 
Such dissolving views are altogether unsatis- 
factory. They leave but a wilderness of 
things rather than a series of distinct nega- 
tives. When you climb to the top of one of 
these great peaks, keep still and watch the sun 
go down. The valley assumes a different as- 
pect. This study into the motherhood of Na- 
ture ! How bold and thrilling the responses! 
See with what passionate and undying- 
instincts she confronts you from everywhere ! 
This maternal element may not be strong 
enough to arrest every passer-by, because her 
secrets demand investigation, but to those 
who are resolved to know and will not be 
turned aside, the minutiae of things as well as 
their majesty become a delightfid surprise. 
The fern is imbedded in the slate. The eye 
of the spider is not without expression when 
seen beneath the lens. The unfolding proc- 
12 "159 



l6o UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

esses of the rosebud show contrivance. The 
lump of coal discloses the work of ages. The 
butterfly's wing was shaped by some cunning 
hand. Even an old stump, fallen into decay, 
reveals the presence of the supernatural. 
These bees among the wild flowers remind 
one of Victor Hugo's bright saying: "There 
is nothinor so like a soul as a bee. It eoes 
from flower to flower as a soul from star to 
star, and gathers honey as the soul does light." 
Some one has said, " Everything in the phys- 
ical world has been made accordinor to weight, 
measure, and number The feather of a bird, 
the flower of a plant, the leaf of a tree, each 
has an exquisite harmony of parts." But 
how true that while the eye of a Cuvier or 
of an Aofassiz can o-et somewhat into the 
secrets of Nature, even these men were 
bound to say in a bewildering mood as to 
the origin of life, " Gentlemen, we cannot 
tell." 

It requires nerve to go down into a coal 
mine. But my friend Mr. B was so en- 
thusiastic about it, and quit his office duties 
so willingly to accompany me, that I at once 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. i6l 

dismissed my fears, put on the old suit of 
clothes, fastened the tiny lamp to my hat, and 




I 












■J^W^ 



1. IN AN ANTHRACITE COAL MINE. 

2. A COAL-BREAKER. 

then away we drove down the awful shaft a 
thousand feet from the surface, and thence 



1 62 UP THE SUS(^UEHANNA. 

out into the dark, damp, forbidding chambers 
where the miners were ditro-incr the black dia- 

oo o 

monds. It was a great luxury to get into the 
heart of the Carboniferous a^re and consult its 
mysteries. As I had just finished studying the 
geological formation of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, my interest in the processes of world 
building was greatly intensified. As this was 
the opportunity of a lifetime, I thought it but 
fair to put as many puzzling questions to my 
friend as possible ; and while he was more 
concerned about the money to be gotten out 
of the mine than with any notion how the 
coal got there, he did the best he could in 
answering the following questions : Do you 
believe the coast line of the Atlantic Ocean 
in the North was ever as low and swampy as 
the coast line of Florida? What fossil is this 
lying in such abundance in these seams, so like 
the horse-tail rushes of the Southern swamps } 
And this bed of slate seems to be full of leaves 
and stems and ferns .^ How much more than 
thirty feet thick is this vein that the men are 
working ? Are we to understand that iron ore 
the same as coal was formed between the De- 
vonian and Permian eras ? And these shrimps 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 1 63 

and horseshoe crabs ? And these snakelike 
figures, what are they ? Did every geological 
period introduce new types of life ? These 
veins seem so rich and full and continuous, 
w^ill they ever be exhausted? 

My talkative and brilliant guide says that 
a distinct stratum always exists between the 
plants (fossils) of the fresh water era and 
the marine fossils, showinor that these o^reat 
beds were floatinor islands of veo^etation in 
the carboniferous lakes; that logs and trunks 
of trees in all shapes are in the strata between 
the coal beds ; that while there are no birds and 
no mammals in any of the rocks of the Carbo- 
niferous period, fish, spiders, scorpions, snails, 
crickets, and the like do abound, and that at 
least five hundred species of plants have been 
found as existing in the period when the coal- 
builders were busily at work. 

It seems evident, therefore, that of all the 
rocks with which we are now familiar the De- 
vonian measures are the most important, be- 
cause limestone, coal, and iron are the thino^s 
which are forever ministerincr to the necessi- 
ties of the race. This "mineralizing" of 



164 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

tropical plants and other vegetable matter is 
one of the marvelous incidents in connection 
with the life of man upon the earth. It once 
and forever settles the question of the father- 
hood of the Creator. He meant from all eter- 
nity that the glowing anthracite in the grate 
should make merry the home life of the men 
and women of his love. 

It is now pretty thoroughly established that 
the first discovery of anthracite coal by white 
people was made in the Wyoming Valley in the 
year i 766 by one Colonel Francis, who went 
up the Susquehanna as far as the Wyoming 
settlements, and reported the land as excellent 
for farming purposes, and that there was "an 
abundance of coal in the hills." He communi- 
cated that fact to Thomas Penn in England, 
and it is a matter of colonial record that coal 
was shipped in "arks" from here down the 
Susquehanna in 1776 to Harrisburg, and 
carted thence to Carlisle and Newville, where 
wrought-iron cannons, muskets, and swords 
were being manufactured for the government. 
The yearly output of coal now is enormous, 
amounting to millions of tons. These threat 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 165 

coal-breakers which dot the valley of Wyo- 
ming from Shickshinny to Scranton are un- 
equaled on the globe. The people are thrifty, 
intelligent, and progressive. The towns are 
vigorous. The private residences and public 
buildings show signs of architectural taste. 
With tact, economy, and forehanded enter- 
prise there need be no huts of squalor, no fire- 
sides where the wolf looks in at the front door. 
Pennsylvanians may well boast of the rich, 
immense, and developing fields of anthracite, 
supplying the markets of every land and bring- 
ing good cheer to the firesides of the whole 
world. 

It is probable that the first white men that 
ever visited the Susquehanna valley in Penn- 
sylvania were three Dutchmen from the trad- 
ing post at Albany, N. Y., In 1614. They 
came to the headwaters of the North Branch, 
making investigations, and in pursuance of 
their purpose came down the river as far as 
the Lackawanna Creek and the Lehicrh River. 
Their passage was far from being an undis- 
puted passage, and a map of their dangerous 
voyage Is said to be still in existence at The 



l66 UP THE SUSQUEPIANNA. 

Hague in Holland. Two years later one 
Stephen Bruehle came down over the same 
route as far as the Northumberland country 
for the purpose of securing- five hundred Sus- 
quehanna warriors to assist in quelling a vio- 
lent Avar that was raging in the vicinity of the 
lakes between the Onondagas and the tribes 
in Canada. The Dutch had been furnishing 
them firearms from time to time, and they had 
become expert in their use. The English 
began their settlements along this part of the 
river as early as 1644. 

The sea nymphs have not )'et invaded the 
sanctity of this ancient river, nor mermaids 
held high carnival in the dancing moonbeanis, 
but Cupid lingers about in his buoyant and 
determined purposes. At nightfall, and later, 
the swain and his sweetheart are seen stroll- 
ing amid these picturesque pathways or glid- 
ing over the waves with merry song and 
laughter, dreaming of the glad to-morrow, and 
praying that the clouds may soon roll by. 
Did the dusky lovers so ? Were they alto- 
gether such in their reveries? Did their full- 
fledged hopes stir their active souls and mold 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. I 69 

their thinkintr? Was love the same fascinat- 
ing venture that it is nowadays? And did its 
lambent flame kindle the same desires as seem 
now to possess the hearts of the sentimental 
pair which just swept by in their sailboat? 
Conditions are changed ; a new language has 
come to the front ; a new civilization stirs the 
blood, but I doubt not that ideals were patent 
to the youth of that day the same as now, and 
two lives as easily blended into one in the 
olden times as to-day, in either upper or lower 
circles of society ; for God meant that in all 
ages the language of love should actuate, in- 
spire, and be translated, not singly, but in 
pairs. 



The Fenimore House, ) ^ 

mr ,r [ -June. 

NEW YORK people are justly proud of 
that magnificent chain of fresh water 
lakes runnino^ throuo:hout the northern sec- 
tion of the State. Aside even from Lakes 
Ontario and Erie in the northwest, as bound- 
aries with Canada, there are gracing every 
section of the State Lakes Oneida, Cayuga, 
Seneca, Canandaigua, Chautauqua, Upper 
and Lower Saranac, Saratoga, Skaneateles, 
Racket, and nameless others. Nature seems 
to have been prodigal of her beautiful and 
healthful waters, and quite partial to our 
friends in Yankeedom. Thanks are due also 
from the nation that the Indian vocabulary 
was consulted when these lakes were named. 
Rut of all the New York lakes, and I am 
not a stranger to their real beauty, none of 
them can have such charms for me as Otsego, 
the headwaters of the noble Susquehanna. 
For many reasons, therefore, it was a peculiar 
pleasure early this morning to hear in the 

home of my friend Murray, in Binghamton, 
170 






.M 



UP THE SUS(^UEHANNA. 1 73 

the rollicking cry, " All aboard for Otsego 
Lake." 

The Chenango River lies sluggishly in its 
bed, and can find but little energy until it 
strikes the Susquehanna and empties into it, 
as it does at this city. The clouds hang quite 
low in the east ; the mists are creeping 
silently along the ridges ; and the forests are 
crowned with all manner of matchless beauty. 

Binghamton is proudly American in its 
instincts, tastes, and habits, and in all com- 
mercial, educational, and social lines is worthy 
of its distinguished place in the galaxy of 
American cities. It has well earned its 
name — "The Parlor City." As we steamed out 
of its busy centers and through its heartsome 
suburbs on the Delaware and Hudson sys- 
tem, our party chatted about auld larig syne, 
the pleasures in store for the excursion, and 
now and then looked after the sweetmeats 
which our good hostess had hid away in our 
lunch baskets. 

The Susquehanna tourist does not expect 
to find, as along the Danube, the Avon, and 
the Rhine, ivy-crowned towers and castles, 



174 UP THE SUS(^UEIIAXXA. 

aqueducts, ancient roadways, minarets, 
famous battlefields, and maLrnificent ruins. 
America does not boast of great antiquity, 
hereditary privileges, immense wealth, or 
populous empires now extinct ; but she does 
chronicle as indubitable proofs of greatness 
the cozy homes of her free and prosperous 
peoples, her freedom of speech, freedom at 
the ballot box, freedom of the press, and free- 
dom of her schools. She boasts of rich and un- 
bounded agricultural resources, elegant farms, 
productive orchards, fruitful vineyards, fine 
herds of cattle, thrifty manufacturing villages, 
great cities, and a contented people who are 
not forever meditating how they may get a 
happier home beyond the seas. All the tides 
are toward America — immigration tides. All 
American types in home life, citizenship, 
language, business lines, and educational ven- 
tures seem to be not only sought after, but 
have the staying quality stamped upon them. 
As we swept up the Susquehanna valley 
to-day with the river in full view, touching as 
we did at Harpersville, Nineveh, Afton, Syd- 
ney, Unadilla, Otego, and Oneonta, it soon 
became evident that we were in a highly 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. I 77 

favored section. Dairy products abound. 
The soil is good, the farm buildings creditable, 
and the people intelligent and full of enter- 
prise. The one single industry that did not 
commend itself, in spite of the great money 
connected with it, was the hop-growing in- 
dustry of Broome County. I believe the 
virgin soil was made by the Almighty not to 
help forward the cause of beer, but to give 
bread and meat and the necessary substantial 
for the table three times a day and three 
hundred and sixty-five days and six hours 
every year. 

Cooperstown,with Otsego Lake as a back- 
ground, is the pride of the upper Susquehanna 
valley. The name and fame of James Feni- 
moreCooper,the distinguished writer of fiction, 
are forever associated with both. There is no 
jutting out of the mainland into the lake, no 
bluff upon its banks, no glen in its vicinity, but 
what has been christened throuoh some inci- 
dent in his " Leather-Stockino- Tales." What 
with the abundance of salmon, pickerel, trout, 
and wild ducks of the waters, and the abundance 
of game of every description in the forests. 



1/8 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

the whole lake country became a prominent 
resort of the Six Nations. Here they kindled 
their camp fires, powwowed in their councils, 
smoked their pipes, planned their expeditions 
to the upper lakes, or forced their way down 
the river. 

Mr. Cooper says that Deerslayer, his 
hero, always called the lake " Glimmerglass," 
and gave as his reason, " that the whole basin is 
so often fringed with pines cast upward from 
its face as if it would throw back the hills 
that hanor about it." " Rieht elad I am," said 
Deerslayer, " that Chin-gach-gook appointed 
our meeting on this lake, for no eye of man 
has ever seen such a olorious sio-ht." Not- 
withstandino^ this touch of sentiment, it is a 
charming spot. Embosomed here amid these 
hills, twelve hundred feet above the Atlantic 
coast, and with a climate altocrether whole- 
some, it has become a summer resort of much 
renown. The lake is nine miles in length, a 
mile in width, and an average of twenty feet 
in depth. The Susquehanna finds in this lake 
its source and supply, while every vale from 
this point to the sea is gladdened by a simple 
outlet amid the trees. 



UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. l8l 

It seemed right for our party of siglit-seers, 
in setting- out to compass the lake, to dechne 
the tender of the steamers Natty Btnnpo or 
the Waterwitch, and to hire two birch bark 
canoes. They were quite large enough for 
our crowd, although they required a deal of 
paddling and no lurching. Point Judith was 
soon reached, then the three mile point, 
McKean's Point, and Hutter's Point. From 
thence we swept around Clark's Bay and the 
head of the lake, and returned in high glee by 
way of the Leather-Stocking Falls. Some of 
our party were interested in Kingfisher Tower, 
a miniature castle, near Point Judith. 

The drives in the vicinity of Cooperstown 
are peculiarly fine. When the tallyho ap- 
peared at our hotel, although much fatigued 
with the morning ricie, all were quite eager to 
improve the time. Point Vision as an objec- 
tive point was much enjoyed. Miss Fletcher, 
one of our number, lingered long enough to 
get the outline of the landscape for the pur- 
pose of reproducing it. Point Vision becomes 
decidedly interesting when it is remembered, 
as was brouQrht out in the "readincrs" last 
evening, that it was the " scene of Leather- 



1 82 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

Stocking's rescue from the jaws and claws of 
the angry panther." The monument to Mr. 
Cooper in Lakewood Cemetery is very much 
admired. Old Leather-Stocking's statue on its 
top, leaning on his rifle, clad in his hunting 
shirt, with leggings, powder-horn, and bullet- 
pouch, is suggestive of the chase. 

There is a peculiarity about Lake Otsego 
that surprises me. It is fed exclusively by 
springs. The two trifling rivulets at the 
northern extremity of the lake make no im- 
pression whatever upon the waters. The 
numerous and varied picturesque views of the 
lake from many standpoints as caught by the 
camera have heightened our love for the 
beautiful, and taught us that the sense of 
beauty may become an ever-revealing power 
of the soul. 

The night had not lost its grip upon the 
world when I left the Fenimore House and 
sailed up the lake alone as far as Wild Rose 
Point to get a first-class view of the daybreak. 
The heralds of the morning soon put in an 
appearance. See the gray glimmerings along 
the horizon there in the east ! The scarlet- 



Ur THE SUSQUEHANNA. 1 83 

tinted touches push back the darkness. Wait 
a bit ! Now watch the amber and crimson 
colors as they go hurrying, scurrying, quiver- 
ing, dancing about the tops of the hills ! 
What mean those narrow stretches of pale 
green } That crest of silver } Those bits of 
gold ? The sunbeams are a merrymaking set 
anyhow. There ! They glide imperceptibly 
into the rifts of the storm-clouds far away in 
the west. It is all plain now. It is one of 
God's servants swinging out to duty. He 
flines his radiant beams over the hills and 
plains, over the woods and seas. Even these 
waters have mirrored forth already the rocks, 
the hedge, the sky. What an imperial guest he 
is ! And with what unconquerable restlessness 
he pursues his course as time keeps threshing 
out the life of the folks who walk upon this 
uncertain planet. 

I do not wonder that the understanding, 
unaided by revelation, floundering amid the 
bogs of human philosophies, yet instinct with 
desire to know the hereafter, should at once 
turn and call the sun a god. 

Well ! There is a Sun which is very God. 
It is the Sun of ri<diteousness. That match- 



l84 UP THE SUSQUEHANNA. 

less personality whose word is law in the 
realm of spirit ; whose love surpasses knowl- 
edge ; whose crracious smiles kindle beams of 
hope in the troubled breast. Darkness, steril- 
ity, destitution, and winter in the soul all dis- 
appear when Jesus speaks. It is the dawn of 
eternal hope ! It is the early vision of a per- 
sonal Redeemer! It is the sunrise of love! 
The morning soon melts into the after bril- 
liant hours, even into the blessed noontide 
itself, and no changes in time or eternity can 
bring to hand the shadows of a waning day. 



THE END. 



/p 



